Armenia’s ruling party will not put forward any candidate to become the country’s next prime minister to avoid stoking tensions, its spokesman, Eduard Sharmazanov, told reporters on Saturday.

Armenia, a close ally of Russia, has been rocked by two weeks of anti-government protests which led on Monday to the resignation of Serzh Sarksyan as prime minister. Sarksyan had previously been president for a decade.

The South Caucasus nation’s parliament is due to pick a new prime minister on May 1. So far, only Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan, who has led the street protests, has been nominated to the post.