Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin says he can lead a stable government, after his Liberal party lost an outright majority in parliament.
Despite the setback in Monday's general election, he said the Liberals still had a mandate to govern.
Mr Martin ruled out any formal coalition, but said he could work with other parties on a case-by-case basis.
Potential partners - including Quebec separatists and New Democrat leftists - say they intend to play a major role.
Official preliminary results suggest the Liberals won 135 seats overall - short of the 155 needed to gain absolute control of the 308-seat House of Commons.
But they retained enough support to defeat a challenge by the Conservatives led by Stephen Harper - who boosted their number of seats from 73 to 99.
"This is not a majority government," Mr. Martin said in Ottawa.
PRELIMINARY ELECTION RESULTS
"This is what I believe to be a very stable but a minority government."
Analysts say the New Democrats are the Liberals' likeliest partners on many issues.
They won 19 seats - which would bring a Liberal-ND to within one seat of a majority.
The New Democrats' leader, Jack Layton, said he got the "central role" in the House of Commons that the party wanted.
He said he would try to ensure Mr Martin fulfilled pledges to increase social spending.
Meanwhile the leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois, Gilles Duceppe, said he had not ruled out working with Martin either.
"I think we can maintain stability, all the while debating each of the issues on their own merits," he told reporters.
Mr Martin says his priority is now to form a new cabinet - the first minority administration in Canada since 1979.
Spending spree?
The BBC's Daniel Lak in Ottawa says the Liberals will be pleased to have done better than even their own internal opinion surveys had indicated.
At one point during the five-week campaign, Mr Harper was well in front of Mr Martin and was telling his followers to prepare for government.
Analysts had warned all along that the electorate wanted to punish the incumbent Liberals, who have governed the country with comfortable majorities since 1993.
A scandal involving misappropriation of public money by Liberal-affiliated advertising agencies in Quebec probably cost Mr Martin his majority, our correspondent says.
But many voters may have been deterred by the social conservatism of Mr Harper's party.
Observers say that voters could well find themselves going to the polls again soon- as Canada's minority governments tend to be short lived.
The also note that the inconclusive result point to a more free-spending agenda, in contrast to the previous Liberal programme of fiscal restraint.
"Generally speaking minority governments have had to spend more and address more issues, because they need to play to a wider audience," political analyst Alan Whitehorn told Reuters news agency.
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