Athens News Agency: News in English, 12-02-12

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Greek Parliament approves crucial bailout plan

[01] Greek Parliament approves crucial bailout plan

The vote, which along with images of widespread rioting and fires in central Athens, generated extensive international news coverage in the previous hours, capped off a day-long marathon of debate, speeches, grandstanding, meetings and press "leaks".

Out of the 300 MPs in Parliament, 278 were present for the vote, with five deputies voting "present".

Twenty New Democracy (ND) deputies voted against, while one former minister and current ND MP was not present at the vote. According to reports immediately after the crucial vote, ND leader Antonis Samaras expelled the 21 MPs from the party's Parliament group and from the party itself.

On PASOK's side, which up until November 2011 was the ruling party, 13 PASOK MPs voted against, whereas seven were not present, according to the latest report. Sanctions were also expected by the party against its dissenting deputies.

The third party supporting the Papademos government, the small right-of-centre LA.O.S party, witnessed the two of its MPs holding Cabinet seats voting in favour of the bill, while the rest of the party's MPs voted against -- as per the instruction of LA.O.S leader George Karatzaferis.

The two LA.O.S deputies, Makis Voridis and Adonis Georgiadis, were also expelled from the party moments after the vote.

In terms of the specific articles, 190 voted for Article I, as opposed to 83 against and five declaring "present". This specific article was the most controversial, as it dealt with a decrease in the minimum wage.

The three remaining articles received slightly more support, two to three votes more.

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