Factbox: Greek MPs vote on second austerity bill Thursday

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek lawmakers will vote on Thursday on the second of two austerity bills that are key to receiving aid from the EU and the IMF, after they backed a first law on Wednesday.

Here is how the debate and vote are expected to take place:

* WHEN?

The vote will take place on Thursday afternoon. The exact time will depend on how long the preliminary debate takes. The debate began on Wednesday evening and is due to resume Thursday morning. Parliament officials said the vote is expected in the afternoon but voting could take hours if the opposition seeks roll-call votes on many individual articles.

* HOW?

Under Greek parliamentary rules, the vote is usually split into two parts: lawmakers first vote on whether to adopt the bill in principle. Then, individual articles are debated and the session ends with one or more votes on individual articles.

It was not yet clear how things would proceed on Thursday. Parliament officials have said there is a possibility that these could be merged in one roll-call vote to be held at the end of the session.

* HOW WILL IT GO?

After expelling one rebel deputy on Wednesday, the government of Prime Minister George Papandreou has a majority of 154 seats in the 300-strong assembly, three more than the 151 votes it needs for the law to be approved.

After lawmakers approved the first austerity bill, which sets up austerity and privatisation targets, by 155 votes to 138, the implementation law is also expected to be approved.

But the vote could be tight on individual articles, especially on taxes. The conservative opposition New Democracy party supports some privatisations and could support some part of the implementation law, but it strongly opposes the government's tax plans.

* WHAT IS THE LAW ABOUT?

- Art. 1-9: Setting up a privatisation agency.

- Art. 10-26: Regulations regarding state-owned real estate in preparation for possible privatisation.

- Art. 27-36: Tax measures.

- Art. 37, 38: Public sector hiring curbs.

- Art. 39-49: Labour market/social security regulations.

(Reporting by Harry Papachristou; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)