In an article published in The Guardian, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov said the era “of managed democracy” in Russia is dead and recent protests against allegedly fraudulent parliamentary elections prove that the country is “undergoing a true awakening."

Tens of thousands of people rallied in Moscow and other cities on December 24 to demand a rerun of the parliamentary vote. Demonstrators have been calling for fresh polls over alleged voting fraud in favor of the ruling United Russia party, led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

“The genie is out of the bottle and it's not going back in. The era of 'managed democracy' is over,” he said in his article for The Guardian.

Speaking about the possible transition of power in Russia, Prokhorov said he hoped that revolution would not be an option adding that he is for “evolution, not revolution.”

“The only question now is will our road be bumpy and perhaps bloody, or will we avoid some of the pitfalls we've seen in our region and in others and pull off a gradual transition before things reach the boiling point,” he said.

Prokhorov, 46, has an estimated fortune of some $18.3 billion and he is a registered candidate in the forthcoming March presidential election in Russia, running against Putin among others.