An unfortunate triumph for Liberal Democracy? [UPDATED]

As pointed out in the comments on Liberal Democrat Voice, the Liberal Democrats have retained control of two parish councils this week: Bradfield in South Yorkshire and Kidlington in Oxfordshire.

Why “unfortunate”? Well, these two electoral triumphs are due to the hard working local Focus team delivering numerous leaflets with bar charts failure of other parties to put up enough candidates. Right results, but a pair of contested elections would probably have been the better route to it.

UPDATE: There are more councils to add to the list – Abbots Langley Parish Council and also, curiously, Hedge End Town Council. Given that it is in Hampshire (a county that is the scene of many close Liberal Democrat-Conservative Parliamentary contests) I was rather surprised to see that the Conservatives could only find three candidates for the twenty-one seats.