Romania is to hold parliamentary elections on December 6, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban announced Thursday, with the vote set to determine whether the country turns the page on recent political instability.

The polls, which Orban's pro-EU National Liberal Party (PNL) are tipped by analysts to win, are set to go ahead despite the risks of coronavirus.

"Given our legislation, the only date available to hold the election is December 6," Orban, the 57-year-old head of PNL, said at the start of a government meeting on Thursday.

Relatively unscathed at the start of the global coronavirus pandemic, Romania has suffered a spike in infections recently to around 1,200 new cases a day on average, with pollsters unsure about how the disease will impact voting in December.

The economy of one of the poorest members of the European Union contracted by 12.3 percent in the second quarter of the year due to the impact of Covid-19 on business and consumption.

The historically dominant Social Democratic Party (PSD) won the 2016 parliamentary election with a landslide -- but its government was thrown out last year after being tarnished by corruption allegations and mass street protests over controversial judicial reforms.