Jerusalem ? With Ariel Sharon’s condition gradually improving, doctors hoped Wednesday 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 Sharon’s Kadima Party would easily win March 28 elections and had even gained strength since the popular prime minister fell ill a week ago. With Sharon in critical but stable condition, the fight to choose his successor began in earnest.

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

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

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 Wednesday afternoon. Sharon, 77, has been unconscious for a week, since suffering a massive stroke Jan. 4.

Dr. Yoram Weiss, one of the prime minister’s doctors, told Israel’s Channel 2 TV that after the sedatives are stopped it would take several days to determine the extent of brain damage 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 Sharon’s system. But hospital spokesman Ron Krumer said it was impossible to give a precise timetable. As of 11 p.m. Wednesday, Sharon had been unconscious for a week.