Jessica Durando

USA TODAY

Iceland's fisheries and agriculture minister, Sigmundur Ingi Jóhannsson, said Wednesday he will seek the president's approval to become the country's next prime minister, according to media reports.

The news comes a day after Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, 41, stepped aside amid pressure over his offshore investments disclosed in the Panama Papers.

Jóhannsson, 53, who is also vice chairman of Gunnlaugsson's Progressive Party, said the governing coalition will remain intact, the Associated Press reported.

After Sunday's explosive Panama Papers leak became public, protests erupted outside parliament in Reykjavik, demanding Gunnlaugsson resign. He had been prime minister since 2013.

The documents revealed that Gunnlaugsson and his wife held about $4 million in bonds in three major Icelandic banks through a hidden British Virgin Islands shell company. That posed a conflict of interest for him because Gunnlaugsson had negotiated a deal for Iceland's bankrupt banks at a time when he was a claimant in those banks.

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Jóhannsson is expected to meet President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson on Thursday, but the opposition disapproves of the change and plans to hold a vote of no-confidence in parliament.

“We will still push forward a proposal to dissolve parliament and hold earlier elections,” said Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson, a legislator with the Pirate Party, which has high popular support, according to the AP.

Gunnlaugsson has denied any wrongdoing.

"Obviously the general public in Iceland has much less tolerance for corrupt behavior and the call for credibility and trust in politics and political institutions are much higher than before the (2008) financial collapse," University of Iceland political science professor Sigurbjörg Sigurgeirsdóttir said in an email.

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Contributing: Nathan Bomey