YEREVAN, April 3, 2014 (AFP) – The Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, resigned Thursday, told AFP Vice-President of the Parliament of this small republic in the Caucasus, Edward Sharmazanov.

“He submitted his resignation letter there is a month, but in view of current procedures to join the Customs Union, the president has accepted it today,” said Sharmazanov.

He also said that the decision had been postponed due to the review by the Constitutional Court of the pension reform, a controversial bill that angered the company against the government.

Sarkisian wrote on his Facebook page that his decision was “deeply thoughtful and mature,” but does not indicate the reason for his resignation.

He was at his post since 2008.

His government was strongly criticized since the entry into force on 1 January of a controversial new law on pensions, forcing people born after 1974 to pay five percent of their salaries to private pension funds.

Several thousand people protested repeatedly against the new pension plan, denouncing a “racket” of the government. Small landlocked country in the Caucasus, Armenia is isolated from the economic point of view because its borders with neighbors Turkey and Azerbaijan are closed due to political disputes. She suffers from high unemployment.