Political experts say in all seriousness that Mr. Prodi was helped by Italy's victory, which provided even the fractious Parliament with a quick boost of patriotic pride.

In Oslo, the normally fractious Parliament erupted as one to demand that Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik dynamite the merger, which he did.

A liberal opposition faction, the Inter-Regional Deputies Group, issued a statement calling for unity in the fractious Parliament to prevent the rise of a dictatorship.

Russian and American officials say that reform has been hampered by lack of funds and inattention from Russia's fractious Parliament.

As a result, the new government proved unable to push the deal with the United States through the fractious Turkish Parliament, and was left looking ineffectual both domestically and internationally.

Critics of the current system say Mr. Gorbachev is too hemmed in by the fractious Parliament, which prevents him from responding quickly to ethnic disorders or economic crises.

Similar legislation has failed to pass the fractious Parliament in the past and the outcome this time will provide an intriguing test of the military's power.

Monday's informal ballot allowed the legislators in the fractious Parliament to express opposition when nothing of substance was on the line.

He has pushed through a fractious Parliament a desperately needed program to sell inefficient public enterprises and modernize Haiti's economy.

The spokesman, Jas Gawronski, said it was remotely possible that instead of resigning, Mr. Berlusconi would call for a vote of confidence in Italy's fractious Parliament.