Greek parliament backs government bailout proposals

ATHENS (Reuters) - The Greek parliament voted overwhelmingly on Saturday in favor of authorizing the left-wing government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to negotiate with international creditors on the basis of a reform program unveiled this week.

A number of leftist members of the ruling Syriza party, including the speaker of parliament, Zoe Constantopoulou and Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis called "present" - in effect abstaining from the vote in a sign of their opposition to the mix of tax hikes and spending cuts it included.

However despite the dissidents, there was never any danger to the package, which was backed by pro-European opposition parties.

A total of 251 voted 'Yes', 32 voted 'No' and 8 'Present', while 9 deputies were absent.

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Renee Maltezou; writing by James Mackenzie; editing by Costas Pitas)

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