Constitution and Administration 1 11
Electoral System for the Chief Executive
Under the Basic Law, the Chief Executive shall be selected by election or through consultations held locally, and appointed by the CPG. The method for selecting the Chief Executive shall be specified in the light of the actual situation in the HKSAR and in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress. The Basic Law also provides that if there is a need to amend the method for selecting Chief Executives for the terms subsequent to the year 2007, such amendments must be made with the endorsement of a two-thirds majority of all members of the Legislative Council and the consent of the Chief Executive, and shall be reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for approval. The ultimate aim is the selection of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures. Annex to the Basic Law lays down the basic framework for selecting the Chief Executive through local election by a broadly representative Election Committee. Voting is by secret ballot on a one-person-one-vote basis.
In accordance with the Basic Law, the Election Committee responsible for electing the second-term Chief Executive is one and the same as the Election Committee that returned six members to the second term Legislative Council in 2000. The Election Committee is composed of members who are HKSAR permanent residents from four sectors: (1) industrial, commercial and financial; (2) the professions; (3) labour, social services and religious; and (4) members of the Legislative Council, Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress, representatives of Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and representatives of district-based organisations.
Each of these four sectors returns 200 members. Each sector is further divided into subsectors, each returning a specified number of representatives to the Election Committee by election. Members of the Legislative Council and Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress are ex officio members of the Election Committee, and the religious subsector returns its representatives to the Election Committee by nomination from designated religious bodies.
The term of office for the second-term Chief Executive was due to expire on June 30, 2007. On March 10, 2005, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, the then Chief Executive, tendered his resignation to the Central People's Government. Mr Tung's resignation. was approved by the Central People's Government on March 12, 2005, and the office of the Chief Executive became vacant on the same date. A Chief Executive election was held in June 2005 to fill the vacancy in the office of the Chief Executive. Prior to that, Election Committee Subsector by-elections were held on May 1, 2005 to fill the vacancies in the Election Committee.
Since only one candidate, Mr Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, was validly nominated at the close of nominations for the Chief Executive election, he was declared elected by the Returning Officer in accordance with the Chief Executive Election Ordinance on June 16, 2005. In accordance with the provisions of the Basic Law and the outcome of the election by the Election Committee, the State Council of the People's Republic