NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus's parliament rejected a privatisation plan on Thursday, throwing into disarray an international bailout programme and the disbursement of a new tranche of aid to the cash-starved island next month.
In a cliffhanger vote, 25 lawmakers rejected the bill, 25 approved it and there were five abstentions, rendering the bill null under parliamentary regulations.
Earlier, hundreds of workers at corporations facing privatisation staged an angry protest outside parliament.
It was not immediately clear if the government would try to call a new session of parliament to debate modified proposals.
Approval of a privatisation plan is mandatory under terms of an EU/IMF bailout Cyprus secured in March 2013, pulling it back from the brink of bankruptcy with 10 billion euros in aid.
Without approval of the legislation, Cyprus cannot get a fourth tranche of about 236 million euros in aid next month. The
state has already received almost half its bailout amount.
As part of its commitments to pay down debt, Cyprus is expected to privatise three major public utility corporations, raising some 1.4 billion by 2018. Those earmarked for sale include Cyprus Telecoms CyTA, the Electricity Authority and the Cyprus Ports Authority.
(Reporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Tom Heneghan)
