Chief Secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang is the most popular choice for chief executive of the post-97 government, according to a new opinion poll.
Just over one-third of people backed Mrs Chan.
Vice-chairman of the Preparatory Committee Tung Chee-hwa ran a distant second with 5.2 per cent, and Democratic Party leader Martin Lee Chu-ming was third with 218 respondents, or nearly 1.8 per cent.
The survey was conducted by telephone by Commercial Radio last month. It asked 12,259 people who they believed should be the head of the post-1997 government.
Some 109 other people won support, but none got more than one per cent of the total. Among them was self-declared candidate Lo Tak-shing, a Preparatory Committee member.
Others included Chinese patriarch Deng Xiaoping , the Queen, Governor Chris Patten, senior Chinese official Lu Ping , former immigration chief Laurence Leung Ming-yin, who quit the civil service last month for 'personal reasons', and alleged gunman Yip Kai-foon.
