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JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rested in hospital on Monday after a minor stroke that raised questions over his political future, but doctors said he should recover fully and was unlikely to face another attack.

The hefty 77-year-old former general, battling for re-election after pulling Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and remaking Israel's political landscape, was rushed to hospital on Sunday.

Doctors said that he would stay for further tests and if all went well he would be discharged on Tuesday. The blood clot on his brain had gone without causing any lasting damage.

"There is an excellent chance this will not repeat itself," said chief neurologist Tamir Ben-Hur. "I think after he rests he will be able to return to normal activity."

A parliamentary election is due in March and some commentators had suggested that the health scare could damage the prospects of Sharon's new centrist party Kadima.

"Kadima's existence depends on one man," wrote Nahum Barnea in the mass-market Yedioth Ahronoth daily. "It is reasonable to assume that the stroke ... damaged his party in electoral terms."

Aides rushed to assure Israelis that Sharon was in no danger and that there was no need for even a temporary transfer of his powers. Sharon is very much a one-man show and his exit from the scene would inevitably mean a major upheaval.

Sharon told Israeli media overnight that he was fine.

"I guess I should have taken a few days off," he said. "There are people who are already interested in a replacement? Well, maybe it's too soon. I'm still here, no?"

Sharon has been a central figure in shaping the Middle East for decades. Once the archetype of the Israeli hawk, he won praise at home and abroad for this year's Gaza withdrawal.

CRITICAL ROLE

His role has never been more critical than after pulling settlers from the occupied strip this year and quitting his right-wing Likud party to form a new movement with a promise to pursue peacemaking with Palestinians.

Israeli markets weakened on the news of Sharon's mild stroke, with share prices down as much as 0.7 percent and the shekel dipping slightly against the dollar.

Strokes are caused by a loss of blood flow to the brain. A study published this year showed that anyone suffering a minor stroke had a 40 percent chance of another, potentially fatal stroke, within 10 years.

Ben-Hur said Sharon's clot had been caused by a minor heart problem, which he said was not uncommon in otherwise healthy people.

Sharon's illness overshadowed Monday's vote to succeed him in what remains of his Likud party, now trailing at third place in the polls behind Kadima movement and leftist Labour.

Surveys of Likud voters give an edge in the leadership fight to former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sharon's old rival who resigned as finance minister in protest at the Gaza pullout.

Close on Netanyahu's heels is Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, seen as potentially more open to peacemaking.

Sharon has said he wants to seek an agreement with the Palestinians, while insisting that Israel will keep major West Bank settlements and ruling out talks before Palestinians disarm militants under a U.S.-backed peace "road map".

Violence has dampened hopes that the Gaza pullout could allow the resumption of negotiations that folded in 2000 before a Palestinian uprising broke out.

Israeli warplanes struck the Gaza Strip overnight and the army said it was targeting roads used by militants firing rockets into Israel.

(Additional reporting by Corinne Heller, Megan Goldin, Ori Lewis, Steven Scheer, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza)