JERUSALEM – With Prime Minister Sharon’s condition gradually improving, doctors hoped yesterday to completely remove him from sedatives soon – a process that could take a day and a half – so they can assess what brain damage he suffered from a massive stroke.

New polls indicated Mr. Sharon’s Kadima Party would easily win March 28 elections and had even gained strength since the prime minister fell ill a week ago. With Mr. Sharon in critical but stable condition, the fight to choose his successor began in earnest.

Kadima officials floated the idea of giving Mr. Sharon the top slot on the party’s election list, while keeping the acting prime minister, Ehud Olmert, as its candidate for premier. The unlikely proposal was strongly debated by Israeli politicians yesterday in a sign that the country’s vibrant political life was reviving after grinding to a halt because of Mr. Sharon’s stroke.

Likud’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, ordered his party’s Cabinet ministers to resign from the government today, a long-planned move that he put off after Mr. Sharon’s stroke, Israeli press reported.

Israel Radio reported that some or all of the ministers planned to ignore the order, which would require them to step down on the same day as Likud primaries to choose candidates for the parliamentary elections.

Mr. Sharon’s doctors said his condition had improved slightly and they were trying to wean him off the sedatives that kept him in an induced coma, though he remained on a low dose of sedatives yesterday afternoon. Mr. Sharon, 77, has been unconscious for a week, since suffering a massive stroke January 4.

One of the prime minister’s doctors, Dr. Yoram Weiss, told Israel’s Channel 2 TV that after the sedatives are stopped it would take several days to determine the extent of brain damage Mr. Sharon sustained.

“We’re talking about a long, slow, and drawn-out process and we hope that it will always develop positively. It’s very hard to say what the pace will be,” he said.

Israel Radio said it would take 36 hours for the drugs to exit Mr. Sharon’s system. But a hospital spokesman, Ron Krumer, said it was impossible to give a precise timetable. As of 11 p.m. yesterday, Mr. Sharon had been unconscious for a week – 168 hours.

As the sedatives are stopped, doctors will be watching Mr. Sharon. One of his neurosurgeons, Jose Cohen, said most patients open their eyes within three weeks after sedation and the sooner this happens the better. However, Mr. Sharon was certain to have sustained some cognitive damage, he said.

“There will be changes, there’s nothing you can do about that. There will be changes, but what changes, nobody knows,” Dr. Cohen told Israel TV.

Since doctors began decreasing the sedatives Monday, Mr. Sharon started breathing on his own and moved his right arm and leg and his left arm in response to pain stimulation, responses Dr. Cohen described as “quite good.” Movement on Mr. Sharon’s left side could be significant because it is controlled by the right side of the brain, where his stroke occurred.

“We expected a serious weakening on the left side of the body, but we were surprised to see him move his left side. That means that maybe the damage on the right side of the brain is not quite as bad as we thought at first,” Dr. Cohen said.

Mr. Sharon’s doctors said Tuesday that he was out of immediate danger, but Dr. Cohen cautioned against premature optimism.

Mr. Olmert has worked to project an air of stability, holding Cabinet meetings and assuring the country the government was functioning. He spoke with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, yesterday and gave him an update on Mr. Sharon’s condition.