The reorganised government has lived through its first hundred days and certain conclusions may be drawn as to its purposes and prospects. Its chief task is to give a new impulse to the reforms but in spite of the revolutionary changes at the top, people's opinion of the government remains low except Boris Nemtsov who has occupied the highest position in the rating lists. His activities are approved by 49 per cent of the respondents while Anatoly Chubais, though he is Mr. Nemtsov's close associate, is approved by 16 per cent. It means that a major part of our populace are unable to evaluate politicians upon their programmes and form purely personal judgements. For the time being, only Boris Nemtsov, Alexander Lebed', and Yuri Luzhkov could be real competitors if presidential elections were held in the immediate future. Zyuganov is sure to enter the second round but to lose again to any candidate from the reformers' camp. Contrary to that, the Duma would remain as oppositional as it is now in case of its dissolution and new elections. The only faction that could gain from such a course of events is "Yabloko". So it seems that the present political balance will continue till the time of the next presidential elections with the Duma and the parties gradually losing their influence and becoming a "noisy accompaniment" to the performance where chief role-players will be "conservative" and "reformist" elements within the executive power. By the time of the election, appearance of new young pretenders from among competent experts in economic and managerial fields can be well expected