Bulgaria will hold snap elections on April 19, says president

Bulgaria will hold a snap parliamentary election on April 19, President Iliana Iotova said on Wednesday.

Iotova last week picked Andrey Gyurov, deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, to head a caretaker government tasked with preparing the way for another parliamentary election, which will be the eighth in just five years in the EU and NATO member state.

The previous government resigned on December 11 following weeks of street protests over its economic policies and perceived failure to tackle corruption.

"I will make a decree to have elections on the 19th of April," Iotova told a news conference on Wednesday, after meeting Gyurov, who presented the members of his caretaker government.

Bulgaria, which joined the euro zone on January 1, has faced prolonged political instability, with parties unable to form stable ruling coalitions in a fragmented parliament.

-Reporting by Alex Lefkowitz, Writing by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Toby Chopra and Ros Russell/Reuters