President Boris Yeltsin said yesterday he was confident that Mr Vladimir Putin, his candidate for Russian prime minister, would be approved on Monday by parliament, echoing comments made by faction leaders.
Mr Putin, nominated by Mr Yeltsin last Monday to replace Mr Sergei Stepashin, must win a simple majority in the 450-seat Duma to become prime minister.
Mr Yeltsin has changed four prime ministers in 17 months and bitter political wrangling between the parliament factions and the president has usually preceded the confirmation vote. This time, facing an election on December 19th, deputies are expected to be reluctant to confront Mr Yeltsin.
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation, led by Mr Gennady Zyuganov, is the main Duma group, with about 135 seats. Mr Zyuganov, usually a vehement critic of Mr Yeltsin's appointees, has not made any hostile comments on Mr Putin but has said there is little to choose between him and his predecessor, Mr Stepashin.
Mr Valentin Romanov, member of the Communist party ruling body, said yesterday he thought that most deputies would vote for Mr Putin. "Dagestan, the harvest, dying Arctic regions and the fuel crisis are too important issues for Russia to remain now without a premier, without a government," he said.
The Communists, who will be worst hit if they lose their Duma headquarters in the run-up to the December election, voted overwhelmingly to approve Mr Stepashin in May.
The party set up by the former prime minister, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, to contest the 1995 parliamentary election - Our Home is Russia - has 60 seats. Mr Putin sits on the party's political council.
The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia has 49 deputies and is led by flamboyant ultra-nationalist Mr Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Mr Zhirinovsky, who met Mr Putin on Thursday, made clear after the meeting that his party would support him.
Mr Zhirinovsky also said that he wanted the government to clamp down on pro-communist organisations and to bury the embalmed body of Lenin, which is in the Red Square in Moscow.
Yabloko, Russia's main liberal party, headed by an economist, Mr Grigory Yavlinsky, has 45 representatives in the Duma. Mr Yavlinsky, who cut short his holiday to return to Moscow after Mr Yeltsin's nomination of Mr Putin, said his party was outraged by the president's treatment of his cabinet, but the final decision on the vote would be taken on Monday.
Mr Sergei Ivanenko, deputy to Mr Yavlinsky, earlier said the party's concern was to overcome the government crisis as soon as possible.
The Russian Regions' Group has 44 deputies, mostly representing the interests of regional administrations and businesses. The group's leader, Mr Oleg Morozov, has said deputies are unlikely to refuse to approve Mr Putin and provoke a confrontation with Mr Yeltsin.
"The president can sack and appoint prime ministers at will," he said. "It is too big a risk, with all the improvisations coming from the Kremlin, to leave it face-toface with the country without the State Duma."
The Agrarian Party has 35 deputies representing Soviet-era collective farms. Their leader, Mr Nikolai Kharitonov, has said he cannot not predict the outcome of the vote, although the party in the past has consistently followed the Communist line. The 44 nationalist and communist deputies of the Narodovlastiye (People's Power) group are also likely to vote the same way as the Communists.
There are also about 30 independent deputies. Some will vote for Mr Putin, others may oppose him.
Mr Putin is due to meet Duma factions on Monday before the vote and deputies have said the meeting will be decisive for him.