Bulgaria to Hold Snap Polls on October 5

"We will propose to the president the date of October 5 for holding the parliamentary election," Socialist Party leader Sergei Stanishev told journalists on Friday after the main parties met in parliament.

They also agreed to support any measures the state needs to take to guarantee the stability of the banking system in the country after shares in Bulgarian banks fell sharply for the second day in a row.

This caused the country’s central bank to allege “an attempt to destabilise the state through an organised attack against Bulgarian banks” and sparked public fears about personal savings.

Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski's government agreed to step down earlier this month after the Socialists polled badly in European elections in May, when only 18.93 per cent of voters supported the party.

It has also been hit by criticism of its perceived mishandling of a dispute between the EU and Russia over the building of the Moscow-backed South Stream gas pipeline.

The dismal showing in the European polls was not unexpected after a year of protests against the Oresharski’s team.

But the final blow to Oresharski’s government was not the protests, but tensions with Brussels over Bulgaria's role in the South Stream pipeline project.

After a series of warnings from the European Commission concerning the South Stream project and even some sanctions imposed on Bulgaria, the Prime Minister was forced to suspend construction of the pipeline in the country.