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Polls: Sharon's party still politically strong

Peres, Olmert fare best as possible Kadima leaders

Ariel Sharon's grave illness has left Israeli political leaders grappling with what could be the end of an era.

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JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Two opinion polls published Friday suggest that Israelis voting in upcoming elections would strongly support the Kadima political party founded by ailing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, even without its gravely ill leader.

The prime minister suffered a major stroke on Wednesday and has had three rounds of brain surgery. He was in a medically induced coma on Friday, but his vital signs were reported to be stable.

A poll published in Israel's Haaretz newspaper showed that if the election -- scheduled for March 28 -- were held now, the Kadima party would win 42 seats in Israel's 120-member Knesset, if the party were headed by former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

That would be more seats than won by any other individual bloc, the poll suggested, and the same number as predicted earlier when Sharon was healthy, Haaretz reported.

But some analysts said it was unlikely Peres would be chosen to lead the new party, according to the Associated Press.

If Kadima were headed by acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert -- who assumed power after Sharon became ill -- Kadima would win 40 seats, according to the survey.

If headed by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, it would receive 38 seats, the poll suggested.

Respondents put Kadima well ahead of the right-wing Likud and left-centrist Labor parties. If Olmert headed Kadima, Haaretz reported, Labor and Likud would win 18 and 13 seats, respectively.

The survey was conducted for Haaretz and Israeli television Channel 10 by the Dialog polling company, and 650 people were questioned. The poll's margin of error was not reported.

Another poll -- published in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot -- revealed similar results. It showed Kadima would receive 42 seats if headed by Peres, 39 if headed by Olmert and 36 if headed by Livni. That poll was conducted by Dahaf Polling Institute and questioned 500 people. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

Sharon announced in November he had resigned from Likud -- which he helped create in 1973 -- to form his new party saying Likud "in its current format is unable to lead Israel to its national goals."

Rebels in Likud opposed Sharon's decision to pull Israeli soldiers and settlers from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Israel had occupied Gaza since 1967.

CNN's Michal Zippori contributed to this report.