The Tories vowed they won’t go down without a fight in Perth and Kinross as the SNP fight to remove them from power.
The nationalists are now the local authority’s largest party with 16 out of 40 seats after gaining a councillor in the election.
Backlash from the partygate scandal saw the Tories lose three seats to finish on 14 as their share of the vote plummeted across Scotland.
While the SNP are now the biggest party in Perth and Kinross, they cannot automatically take control of the council since they don’t have a majority.
The Lib Dems won four seats, Labour now have two councillors, and four independent candidates were elected as well.
Local SNP group leader Grant Laing has set his ambitions on the nationalists leading the next administration.
He opened the door to working with other councillors and parties to potentially form a coalition.
He told The Courier: “I don’t think there’ll ever be an outright majority in Perth and Kinross. That’s what the system is set up for, to try and get people to work together.
“At the moment I’ve spoken to all the other groups on the council. We will be continuing that on Monday.
“There’s things to be discussed with all of them. We’re in prime position to form the administration. Most parties realise the first people to have that chance should be the largest party.”
However, Tory MSP Murdo Fraser insisted it’s not guaranteed the SNP will be in power.
He said: “Nobody has overall control. Whoever wants to form the administration is going to have to try and cut a deal.
“I think personal relationships are going to prove as important as politics in all this.
“It will be whether smaller parties think that the individuals in the SNP leadership are people they want to work with. I don’t think it’s a given we’re going to end up with an SNP administration.”
‘Labour and Tories can work together effectively’
Mr Fraser said Labour and the Tories had been able to “work together effectively” in Aberdeen where they struck a controversial deal after the 2017 election.
He urged party leader Anas Sarwar to reverse his stance on entering no local coalitions following the vote.
The Tory MSP said: “It would be foolish for Labour to rule it out entirely.”
However, both Perth and Kinross Labour councillors have said they will sit in opposition.
Alasdair Bailey, who was re-elected for the party in the Carse of Gowrie ward, reckons it will be an “uphill struggle” for the Tories to retain power.
He told The Courier: “When it comes to coalitions, the position we have is we’re going to operate as a pair in opposition.
“Wherever any group is bringing things to the agenda that match with our Labour values we’ll be voting for those.
“What you can expect is for me to continue opposition from the middle.
“There are times where the two big groups will both be following the same path, and it’s useful to have a third voice calling out the pair of them.”
‘Uphill struggle for Tories’
He added: “It would be an uphill struggle for the Conservatives to form something because they have that numerical disadvantage.
“It all hinges on where the four independents plus the Liberal Democrats go. It will be interesting to see what their price is. We’ll learn more I imagine in the coming weeks.”
The Lib Dems have hinted they would be open to working with other parties.
Local leader Peter Barrett said they will assess what priorities they share with rivals when negotiating.