Armenia's ruling party says will not nominate candidate for PM

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.