ISRAEL: Ariel Sharon did not suffer any permanent damage from a mild stroke and will probably be released from a Jerusalem hospital today, his doctors said yesterday. The prime minister was taken to hospital on Sunday night.
Members of Mr Sharon's former party, the Likud, meanwhile, went to the polls yesterday to elect a new leader, after the prime minister left it last month.
Opinion surveys released as the polling stations closed last night at 10pm local time, gave former finance minister Benjamin Netanyahu a clear advantage, with 47 per cent of the vote as opposed to 32 per cent for his closest rival, foreign minister Silvan Shalom. Actual results were expected in the course of the night.
Despite the doctors' optimism, Mr Sharon's sudden ill-health had members of his new party Kadima (Forward), which holds a healthy lead in the opinion polls, scrambling to field questions about whether the prime minister would be able to function effectively.
"His opponents should not be too happy," boasted lawmaker Meir Sheetrit. "The prime minister is alive and kicking and will soon be back kicking everyone." A neurologist who treated the prime minister said he had suffered a "mild cerebral vascular event", but had not lost consciousness, had not suffered paralysis and was "not confused" on arriving at hospital.
"There was some difficulty in his speech, caused by a small blood clot," said Dr Tamir Ben-Hur, head of the neurology department at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.
He said there was "an excellent chance" that the incident would not repeat itself and that after a short rest Mr Sharon would be able to return to "full activity."
Despite the doctors' optimism, the episode immediately raised calls from politicians for Mr Sharon to release his medical records, and members of Kadima spent much of yesterday trying to douse concern about the prime minister's ability to function.
The prime minister is the key to Kadima's popularity and the immediate impact of his sudden ill-health was evident as his party colleagues also began emphasising the team surrounding him. "It is a wild exaggeration to say that Kadima is just Ariel Sharon," said deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert, who also left the Likud to set up the new party.
Whoever emerges victorious from the Likud leadership primary will inherit a party in tatters. Mr Sharon's departure, largely because of a continuing showdown with hardline party lawmakers who opposed his Gaza withdrawal plan, has left the Likud reeling. While the party won 40 seats under Mr Sharon in the 2003 election, opinion polls are now predicting it will win just 12 to 15 mandates. This would either relegate it to the opposition benches or see it join the government as a minor partner.