Mr. Gingrich and the other leaders will have to satisfy competing demands from an increasingly fractious Republican coalition.

But he relies on a fractured and fractious center-left coalition whose inability to get along also recalls the revolving-door governments of old.

In public remarks over the past few days, Mr. Maliki has tried to press his fractious coalition to work together better.

The political repercussions, both at home and in the fractious multilateral coalition opposing Iraq, could be disastrous.

I am more like a prime minister who leads a fractious and fragile coalition.

All this in addition to mustering some kind of harmony in his increasingly fractious three-party coalition - without whose agreement nothing can be achieved.

Politicians within Mr. Kohl's fractious center-right coalition took pot shots as well.

The two groups have been allied with the more powerful Khmer Rouge in a fractious coalition.

His Government had a very rocky year in power as it struggled to hold its fractious coalition together.

Previous differences over the plant have been settled quietly, but this time, the dispute could bring down Austria's fractious coalition.