Vice President Aleksandr V. Rutskoi, whom Parliament has named acting president, said today that he favored prompt elections.

Earlier, the United States had pressed for more prompt elections.

In Kisangani, Mr. Kabila's rebels sought support by promising prompt local elections.

Continuity of Government - Vote on a measure to mandate the prompt election of replacements - within 49 days - if more than 100 members of Congress are killed.

All four front-runners from the aborted November election have repeatedly asked democratic nations to reject this week's vote and to press for a prompt legitimate election.

The Reagan Administration once plausibly claimed that backing the junta assured prompt elections.

But it recently balked at a French proposal for prompt elections, fearing that extremists would gain.

LEAD: Miners went back to work as Ukrainians seized on President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's offer of prompt elections.

The last months of 1989 were used to spend the meager reserves to revive the economy somewhat in view of the prompt elections.

Many other experts say that in discussions with administration officials, there is a growing sense that the goal of holding prompt elections of any kind this year is receding.