There will be more candidates than expected contesting the post of first Chief Executive of the Special Administrative Region if all those who have declared their intention to stand manage to find a sufficient number of Selection Committee members to nominate them.
People will naturally want the committee members to take public opinion into consideration when they make their important choice.
For the new government to get off to a good start, it is imperative that it should be led by a Chief Executive who has popular support.
Opinion surveys have been conducted for some time to find out who Hong Kong people will choose to head the first SAR government.
These surveys will no doubt continue and will become more relevant when a final list of candidates emerges. Up to now, however, when asked to choose between prospective candidates, there is little for the public to base their judgment on, apart from the track record of each person in his or her own field.
But it hardly needs pointing out that successful businessmen do not necessarily make good government leaders, and the same goes for judges, senior civil servants and others who only have experience outside politics. The head of the SAR government will often be faced with situations requiring a good sense of political judgment, a lack of which could lead to disastrous results.
At a time when the Diaoyu Islands dispute was the most emotive issue in Hong Kong, Chief Secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang had the political obtuseness to call the islands by their Japanese name in front of foreign journalists during her recent trip in Australia.