31.   Scalfaro this afternoon finished two days of talks with parliamentary leaders on the appointment.

32.   Significantly, Primakov hinted in a letter to parliamentary leaders on Monday night that the agreement was his own initiative and had yet to be fully coordinated with Yeltsin.

33.   The compromise came in a meeting with parliamentary leaders and Kiriyenko at the Rus presidential country estate.

34.   The proposal, made by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin to parliamentary leaders Wednesday, would keep Chubais in government while giving the appearance of clipping his wings.

35.   The population, now totaling less than one million, regard the parliamentary leaders as puppets of Moscow.

36.   The proposal was put forward Thursday by Wolfgang Schauble, parliamentary leader of the governing Christian Democratic Union, and was backed by other senior Christian Democrats.

37.   Then, Indian President K.R. Narayanan is expected to ask Bharatiya Janata parliamentary leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee to become prime minister.

38.   Whether Harmoko would try to proceed with that plan, or whether those other parliamentary leaders would now be prepared to join him, was not clear on Monday.

39.   Parliamentary leaders ordered a recount because of the close ballot.

40.   Parliamentary leaders agreed afterward to hold talks Tuesday to draw up a list of possible candidates for prime minister to submit to Yeltsin.