MONTREAL AP Quebec's separatist premier Lucien Bouchard faced an awkward future Tuesday after voters returned him to power but made clear there was no groundswell of support for secession. Backed by only 43 percent of the voters Bouchard's Parti Quebecois found itself still in control of the legislature yet lacking a mandate to press quickly for its paramount goal independence from Canada. Instead Bouchard and his foes agreed the government will have to focus on difficult unglamorous issues like job creation deficit reduction and shoring up eroding social services. Bouchard had hoped for a decisive win in Monday's provincial election as a first step toward calling for a referendum on secession. He has pledged to hold such a referendum only when confident the separatists can win and he admitted Tuesday this is not now the case. ``It's clear Quebeckers don't want a referendum right now'' he told a news conference. ``They want us to complete the reforms that we've started. ``I personally trust that provided we succeed in those achievements we will create a momentum of confidence-building all over Quebec and in such a climate the winning conditions for a referendum will arise.'' After a 33-day campaign billed as a showdown over separatism Quebec emerged from the election with its political forces in almost the same position as after the last election in 1994. The separatists won 75 of the legislature's 125 seats while the anti-separatist Quebec Liberal Party won 48 a third party called Democratic Action won one and one seat remained unfilled because of a candidate's recent death. In 1994 the separatists won 77 seats to 47 for the Liberals while each side won about 44 percent of the popular vote. On Monday the Liberals again won 44 percent of the votes while the separatists slipped to 43 percent. Democratic Action which favors greater autonomy but not necessarily independence won 12 percent behind its 28-year-old leader Mario Dumont. The separatists were able to convert modest vote totals into a legislative majority because their support mostly among the French-speaking majority is spread evenly across much of the province. Anti-separatist support is concentrated in fewer districts mostly in and around multiethnic Montreal. Liberal Party leader Jean Charest said Bouchard was now in a bind in danger of alienating mainstream voters if he maneuvers vigorously for a referendum or alienating Parti Quebecois militants if he does not. ``One of the groups is going to be deeply disappointed'' Charest said. ``The members of the Parti Quebecois today have to feel very uncomfortable about the results.'' Charest who will be opposition leader in the legislature said Quebeckers ``want a government that's going to focus on making Quebec work as a society that will not divide us.'' One of the next battlegrounds for Bouchard will be upcoming negotiations pitting him and premiers of other provinces against the federal government. Several other provinces are now echoing Quebec's longstanding demands for more control over social spending and Prime Minister Jean Chretien must decide whether to cede some federal powers or risk giving Bouchard a new grievance. One of Chretien's Cabinet ministers Quebec native Stephane Dion said threats of secession are not an appropriate way to extract concessions from the federal government. ``It divides our society it hurts our economy'' Dion said. ``It gives to many Canadians outside Quebec the sense that Quebeckers are small kids and receive too much from the federal government.'' In some anti-separatist newspapers in English-speaking Canada the tone toward the Parti Quebecois was even harsher. ``The tedious Quebec situation can and should be ignored by all Canadians'' wrote columnist Diane Francis in the Toronto-based National Post. ``Nobody's going anywhere without the full consent of everyone both inside and outside Quebec.'' APW19981201.1097.txt.body.html APW19981201.0462.txt.body.html