THE Liberal Democrats took in the smallest share of the vote in the Ochil and South Perthshire constituency.

The party’s candidate Dr Iliyan Stefanov managed just 1,742 ballot papers out of a total of 54, 245 but insisted that he was not downbeat by the result.

He said: “When the results were announced I think the important thing today is that democracy wins and we are happy with that. I do hope that in the future liberalism will also gain and one day can win as well.”

Mr Stefanov could not put his finger on why the party was so far behind the nearest competitor, which was Labour’s Joanne Ross, and said that they had tried to appeal to a wide range of voters.

He said: “My theory is that society got polarised during this election so we were trying to stay in the centre.

“We were trying to keep messages to people which are well balanced. However, society went either on the one side or the other side so we were left a bit squeezed in the middle.”

When asked if a Conservative candidate taking the seat was a positive outcome, he said: “I’m not disappointed when democracy wins.”

Mr Stefanov’s campaign team plans to take things back to basics and refocus their energy on the local community.

The candidate added: “We need to concentrate on the small things, working for people in this constituency and winning over young people because the future is there.

“We have to start from the drawing board again.”