Mr Sharon made the comment after he quit the right wing Likud party which he helped found in 1973.
Israelis will go to the polls in March setting into motion a far-reaching realignment of Israel's fractious political system.
Polls in three newspapers have found Mr Sharon’s new party would win up to 33 seats in the 120-strong parliament.
In stark contrast, they predicted that Likud would win between 12 and 15 seats.
Such a result would spell disaster for Likud which currently has 40 seats in the Knesset.
Parliament dissolved
Mr Sharon submitted a resignation letter to the Likud central committee chairman, Tzachi Hanegbi, making official his departure from the party he has twice led to victory in national elections.
Within hours later, Israel's parliament voted overwhelmingly for a dissolution.
Thirteen of Likud's 40 parliamentary members soon joined Sharon in his new centrist party, provisionally named National Responsibility.
But Mr Sharon failed to clinch support from Defence Minister, Shaul Mofaz, who is among seven potential successors.
Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is also widely expected to cast his hat into the ring.
Party’s goals
Mr Sharon’s new political incarnation is expected to define itself with a political program focused on the US-backed “roadmap” peace.
It is also expected to tackle Israel's security and poverty.
"Likud in its current form is unable to guide Israel to its national goals," Mr Sharon told reporters.
"Staying in Likud means wasting time rather than proceeding with political issues."
Choices for next election
At the next election voters will be presented with three main choices - the Likud party on the right, the Labour party on the left, and Mr Sharon's new movement in the centre, which he says is the only way to further define Israel's national borders.
As Israel’s first sitting prime minister to leave his party, Mr Sharon has highlighted the volatile state of national politics following Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip earlier this year.
Alienation
When Mr Sharon evacuated the Gaza Strip settlements he hoped to define borders that would protect the viability of Israel's Jewish majority from the strip's fast-growing Arab population but he alienated his party’s hawkish base.
Mr Sharon has also won few friends among the Palestinian leadership.
They say he has done little to ease Israel's 38-year occupation of the West Bank, while showing no signs of initiating negotiations under the roadmap.
He has also indicated no further withdrawals are planned.
As the 77-year-old prime minister prepares for what could be his last election, several advisers said Mr Sharon's widely expected decision was based on practical considerations.
Israeli political analysts also say the brash former general and driving force behind Israel's long military involvement in Lebanon, may also have his legacy in mind.
Uzi Landau, a senior Likud figure opposed to the Gaza withdrawal, said his party would "do whatever possible" to fight any further pullout.
He said Mr Sharon's departure represented a "new hope for Likud with clean politics".
Labour and Likud formed a national unity government last December, after Mr Sharon lost his majority in parliament over the disengagement plan.
Risky Move
While popular with the Israeli public, Mr Sharon is taking a risk by leaving Likud, a coalition he helped from a group of marginal hawkish parties in 1973 – four years before unseating the Labor movement in national elections.
He gives up the Likud brand name, financial resources and television advertising time that in Israel is tied to the number of seats a party holds in parliament.
Mr Sharon called on Monday for members of the rival Labor Party to join him.
Some analysts have predicted that long- time Labor leader Shimon Peres, who unexpectedly lost the party leadership to the charismatic Amir Peretz, will leave his party to support Mr Sharon.
Israeli political analysts say Mr Sharon is counting on the continuing loyalty of some Likud voters and fresh support from Israeli doves who backed his Gaza withdrawal but would never, as a matter of principle, vote for a Likud candidate.
A recent opinion poll published in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's largest daily newspaper, showed that a new party under Mr Sharon would win 28 Knesset seats with Labor also taking 28, a seven-seat gain.
The same poll showed that Likud led by Mr Sharon's chief rival, Binyamin Netanyahu, would lose more than half of its Knesset seats in voting that featured Mr Sharon's new party.
That would make Likud, which now controls a third of the Knesset, the third largest party in parliament.