1996 Hong Kong Chief Executive election  The 1996 Hong Kong Chief Executive election was held on 11 December 1996 to select the first Chief Executive (CE) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) which term started from 1 July 1997 after the Chinese resumption of the sovereignty of Hong Kong from the British rule. It was selected by the 400-member Selection Committee installed by the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Tung Chee-hwa, a Shanghai-born Hong Kong businessman who was seen being favoured by Jiang Zemin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, was the ultimate winner of the election, defeating former Chief Justice Ti-liang Yang and tycoon Peter Woo with a large margin. According to the Basic Law of Hong Kong, the mini-constitution of the HKSAR, the first Chief Executive was selected by a 400-member Selection Committee. The Selection Committee was chosen by the Preparatory Committee in Beijing on 2 November 1996. Members of the pro-Beijing party Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong secured 40 places on the Selection Committee, while Leong Che-hung and some other prominent liberals were not elected. The Selection Committee was also responsible for the selection to the 60 seats to the Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) on 21 December 1996. The first potential candidate was Lo Tak-shing, Oxford-educated lawyer and son of prominent Eurasian lawyer and politician Man-kam Lo. Once officeholder in the British colonial government, Lo gave up his British citizenship and his title of the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for the Chinese citizenship in the early 1990s. When his popularity rating was only around one per cent, Lo withdrew on 17 October 1996. Simon Li, former judge and director of the Bank of East Asia and nephew of the prominent businessman and politician Li Tse-fong who initially supported Lo Tak-shing entered the race in November 1996, after Lo withdrew. Li supported the controversial Beijing-controlled Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) and tightening public security to maintain Hong Kong's stability and prosperity. Chief Justice Ti-liang Yang first surfaced as a contender a year before the election. However, his chances were wrecked as a top Chinese official leaked to the press some negative remarks Yang supposedly made on the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance, which made him unpopular among the pro-democracy camp. In September 1996, Yang gave up his British knighthood and resigned as Chief Justice to run in the race.