Ariel Sharon, Israel’s prime minister, was discharged from hospital on Tuesday after undergoing medical tests on Monday for a minor stroke, aides involved in his forthcoming election campaign promoted a business-as-usual atmosphere.

While attention was focused on the prime minister’s health, the Likud party he abandoned last month voted for Benjamin Netanyahu, his former finance minister and leadership rival, to contest the premiership in the general election on March 28. Exit polls indicated Mr Netanyahu had won 47 per cent of an internal party vote to defeat his nearest rival for the Likud leadership, Silvan Shalom, foreign minister.