The legislation is already riven by competing interests and fears.
The answer, of course, lies in the profound divisions by which that party was already riven.
Reported by Human Rights Watch and acknowledged by the current government, the abuses come at a time when the new leadership is already riven by infighting ahead of parliamentary elections in October.
If his assertions are confirmed, the killings would rank among the worst mass executions carried out by the rebel side and could aggravate the image problems for the coalition of insurgent forces, which are already riven by internal conflict and have been losing territory to Mr. Assad's side in recent weeks.
So worried were many Tory officials about the party's declining electability that during the three-month campaign, supporters of each man threatened to abandon the Conservatives if the opposing candidate won, a potentially menacing development for a party that is already depleted of numbers, riven with internal feuding and short on new talent.
It would be a new low for a political system already riven by partisanship and raw exercises of power, but it's entirely plausible.
But the governor's pledge to modernize the state's voting system could cost as much as $200 million, and the Legislature, already riven by partisan battles over spending, may be reluctant to take such a step.
If young are decisively pitted against old – in a society already riven with divide-and-rule conflict, from private- and public-sector workers to the low-paid and unemployed – then it will be the left that loses.
There was no room for complacency among the opposition UMP, already riven by leadership rivalries.
Neighboring oil giant Saudi Arabia and the United States fear escalating violence could push impoverished Yemen, already riven by tribal and separatist conflict, into chaos that could be used by al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing to operate more freely.
