Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov said on Wednesday he would quit as head of the Right Cause party in the event of a poor showing at parliamentary elections in December.
The Right Cause party was founded in late 2008. It has been widely seen as a Kremlin project to create a semblance of a multi-party political system in Russia. Prokhorov, 46, is expected to be named leader of the Right Cause party in June.
"A leader who has failed to do his job must leave," Prokhorov said.
In an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio station, Prokhorov said Right Cause had a chance to become the second biggest party in the State Duma. The party is currently not represented in the lower house of parliament, which is dominated by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party.
Experts say the party may be preparing to back current President Dmitry Medvedev for re-election in the 2012 presidential elections.
Prokhorov, who is ranked third on the Russian Forbes list of billionaires, said he had consulted neither the Medvedev nor Putin camps when he decided to lead Right Cause.
MOSCOW, May 25 (RIA Novosti)
