were left with
Voters looking for an alternative were left with Mehdi Karrubi, who had failed to get to the second round of the 2005 presidential election.

What does "were left with" mean? Thank you!

Question

were left with
Voters looking for an alternative were left with Mehdi Karrubi, who had failed to get to the second round of the 2005 presidential election.

What does "were left with" mean? Thank you!

Answer

This was the alternative which remained, which was available.