Then Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa submitted his resignation to the central government in Beijing, and was officially approved on 12 March.

As Donald Tsang, Chief Secretary for Administration in Tung's cabinet, was the only candidate, he was declared elected unopposed on 16 June.

In the interim, Tsang and later Henry Tang served as acting Chief Executives in accordance with the Basic Law.

[3] Since the election and the term of the Chief Executive are regulated by the Basic Law, to settle the disputes, the Acting Chief Secretary filed a request for interpretation of the Basic Law to the PRC National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), amidst some oppositions to the request.

[4]Article 52 item 1 cites a health illness as an acceptable reason for resignation: "The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region must resign under any of the following circumstances:(1) When he or she loses the ability to discharge his or her duties as a result of serious illness or other reasons.

[5]"Given the status of this resignation as voluntary (as Tung claims), and there are allegations that the citing of health reasons may not be an actual truth, as there is technically nothing prohibiting the use of excuses in such a manner.

It is rumoured that the actual motive is a decision imposed by the central government, but it can also be a desire to spend more time with the family or many other reasons.

The by-election was marked by voter apathy, where only 15% of the eligible population turned up, with some constituencies reporting as low as 12%, despite the pleadings of the Hong Kong Government.

Other minor invalid candidates included Chan Yuet-tung, Li Hau, Allen Tam Kwan-sui, Vincent Yang Yuen-shan, Yun Shat-man.

According to Tsang's election website, he engaged in "closed door meetings" with individual EC members.

[7] The Standard cited high-level sources saying that Beijing hoped Tsang would forestall any possibility of being challenged for the office by securing at least 500 to 700 nominating votes.

Sources close to Tsang confirmed Beijing was worried that a contested election could lead to political uncertainty, and wanted to be sure that "no one runs against their man".