IT could be weeks before Bolton electors know who will be making the final decisions in the council chamber.

For the second year running Bolton Council does not have a controlling party, despite the Liberal Democrats' successes.

Labour lost its overall majority on the council last year, but still had the biggest number of seats.

Now the Liberal Democrats are the biggest party - but again there is no overall control.

All three parties will be closeted in meetings over the coming days in a bid to form political pacts and take control of the council. It is possible that the Liberal Democrats could team up with either Labour or the Tories to form an effective administration.

But first Labour has to sort out its own hierarchy.

Labour is leaderless on the council after losing Bob Howarth, the previous leader and Guy Harkin, his deputy.

The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Cllr Barbara Ronson, said it was still too soon to speculate on whether she would become the new council leader or what other senior positions the Liberal Democrats would be able to occupy.

"There will be a bit of horse trading and it is going to take a while to sort out. We will wait and see if either of the other groups make an interesting approach," she said.

She said: "Last year there was no overall control. This year we have to settle down and find out where we are trying to go."

She added that during the past year all parties had worked together.

"It has been a terrific night," she said as she reflected on her party's success.

"We have been the third party for so long."

"It has been a hard campaign. We fought it on making Bolton cleaner, greener, safer and fairer."

She added that she believed litter problems had been a major election issue in the town.

The ousted Labour leader, Bob Howarth, reflected on 24 years of Labour control in Bolton. He said: "Under my leadership we have done many things, but, OK, we've made mistakes. The more you do, the more mistakes you can make.

"The closure of the Water Place was hard for people to understand.

"You always get a mid-term feeling about a Government and after 24 years I don't doubt many people thought it was about time they had a change."

He admitted that it could be some time before Labour regains the dominance it once held in Bolton.

A Labour Party meeting today will discuss the reorganisation of the local party and how it can begin a long fight back.

"We have a springboard to get back over the next few years. It could have been a lot worse," said Cllr Howarth.

Cllr Alan Rushton, Conservative leader, was disappointed his party did not make gains at the expense of Labour and put its showing in the elections partly down to the lost ballot papers fiasco.

The Tories had been hoping to get all three seats in Great Lever but in the end they got only two, with the third going to Labour. In its other target ward of Breightmet, the Tories gained just one seat.

"It could have been different if postal voting had gone correctly. We don't know whether the situation would have changed," he said.

He added that he believed the Liberal Democrats benefited from their stance over the Iraq war, which damaged Labour's chances.

Council chief executive Bernard Knight, the returning officer on election night, insisted that the three main parties could work together.

He said: "No one party has been in overall control in Bolton for the last year so it will be the same scenario for the next two years.

"We've got a mature group of politicians who I'm sure can work together."

when asked about the postal ballot controversy he added:

He said: "Things have gone as smoothly as we liked it. Now we need to sit down calmly and sort things out.

"There will be an official report from the electoral commission and I'm sure they will tell us what went wrong and what went right."