The socialist-led government had the lowest approval rating in October since its inauguration five months ago as public frustration continued to grow over a series of issues, according to a poll by Alpha Research (AR) carried out between October 26-31 among 1,030 participants. 

Trust in the cabinet of PM Plamen Oresharski fell to 19% in October (from 23% the month before), affected negatively by the ongoing protests in the country and people's assessment of the prevailing economic conditions as poor. The gap between negative and positive assessments of the country's development widened further as only 16% of the respondents approved of the economic situation while 48% assessed it as poor.

The government also lost approval in respect to the controversial measure the parliament adopted in late October, which obliged the executive branch to initiate a process that should result in an extension of the moratorium on the purchase of agricultural land by foreigners.

Meanwhile, according to Alpha Research, the senior ruling party BSP retained its lead over opposition CEDB. The poll showed that 16.9% (down by 1 point) of the registered voters would vote for BSP if elections were held in October, whereas 16.5% (down by 0.6 points) would cast a ballot for CEDB. Besides these two major parties, another two would also enter the parliament if Bulgarians were voting today - ethnic Turkish MRF (with 6.1% voter support) and the Reformist Block (6.4%).

Support for nationalistic Ataka rose 1.4 points to 3% in October, likely as a result of the moratorium extension measure the parliament passed in the month. The party's popularity has been on the decline since the May snap election but its efforts to consolidate voters in an early campaign for the upcoming European Parliament elections next year have apparently boosted its ratings.