Hong Kong Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam hopes the chief executive term of office amendment bill can be enacted before the election nomination period starts, according to a government press release Wednesday,

Lam said the document will be gazetted on March 24 and expects it to be tabled at the Legislative Council on April 6. He said the government's priority is to deal with the bill which proposes that any new Chief Executive elected should serve the remainder of Tung Chee Hwa's unfinished term.

"We are going to pursue this in the Legislative Council and we will do our very best to explain to legislators the basis for this draft legislation. We hope we can complete this piece of legislation and have it enacted before the nomination period begins," Lam said.

"But of course in so doing, we will have full regard to the views expressed by legislators and different political parties. We shall continue to place our emphasis on this work in coming weeks."

He said the government is prepared to deal with any judicial review in accordance with the Basic Law and Hong Kong law. The government will monitor developments and act accordingly.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2005)