In less than a week, the number of potential Chief Executives has gone from three to five. On Wednesday, 72-year-old retired judge Arthur Garcia confirmed he was 'actively considering' offering himself as another choice for the 400 Selection Committee members. Two days later, it emerged that tycoon Peter Woo Kwong-ching had been quietly talking to Preparatory Committee colleagues and political party leaders, and was serving notice of his interest in the top seat in post-handover Hong Kong.
A formal announcement of the candidacy of the former chairman of the Wheelock group is now just a matter of time. Add those two to the three others who earlier indicated their interest and you have five candidates - four of whom are members of the Preparatory Committee. The five are shipping tycoon Tung Chee-hwa, solicitor Lo Tak-shing, Mr Garcia, Mr Woo and Sir Ti Liang Yang, who resigned from his post of Chief Justice this month after declaring his candidacy.
So, instead of the fear just one month ago that there might be too few candidates, the problem could be that there will be too many.
Despite Mr Lo's early announcement of his candidacy and the blitz of media publicity that went with it, it was not until veteran China adviser Xu Simin revealed his plan to nominate Sir Ti Liang that the battle began to heat up.
At the same time some pro-China figures were joining together to fight what they called 'businessmen ruling Hong Kong'. Some have even warned of the emergence of so-called 'black money politics', notorious in Taiwan, Korea and Japan. Specifically, opponents kept challenging the impartiality of Mr Tung if he became the future chief, given his close links to property tycoon Li Ka-shing. Suddenly, Sir Ti Liang was the 'chosen leader' as speculation mounted in the media that Mr Tung had already thrown in the towel, even before he had formally put his name on the candidates' list. How wrong the speculation was.
Mr Tung's supporters came out in the open to put pressure on the shipping magnate to declare his intention to run. Lobbying behind the scenes has been even more intense, according to insiders.