Five charges of misrule

President Yeltsin was bracing Sunday for a battle with parliament over who becomes Russia_s next prime minister, after comfortably surviving a Communist-led attempt to impeach him. Yeltsin_s opponents in the State Duma, the lower house, are licking their wounds after failing Saturday to muster enough votes to start impeachment proceedings on any of five charges of misrule they had brought against him. Now the opponents may use their chance to hit back when the Duma meets Wednesday to consider whether to confirm Yeltsin_s loyal ally Sergei Stepashin as prime minister. The Communists could try to salvage some lost pride and also show their dissatisfaction with Yeltsin_s dismissal last week of Primakov, the prime minister they had backed. But two influential regional bosses who met Stepashin Sunday said he stood a good chance in the Duma. The Federation Council upper house, where the regional bosses sit, will meet Monday to discuss Stepashin_s nomination. The house has no say in approving premiers, but some Duma leaders indicated they were awaiting the senators_ opinion. Stepashin also met upper house speaker Yegor Stroyev but details of their talks were not released immediately. The closest the Communists came to tripping Yeltsin Saturday was over his role in the 1994-96 war in breakaway Chechnya. But they secured only 283 votes even on that count, 17 short of the 300 votes or two-thirds majority -- needed.