The nomination period for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR)'s fifth term chief executive election ended on Wednesday, with altogether three candidates qualified to run for the vote to be held late March.

During the nomination period starting from Feb. 14, the Returning Officer at the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) has received nomination forms from Tsang Chun-wah, former Financial Secretary of the SAR government, Woo Kwok-hing, a retired justice, and Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, former Chief Secretary of the SAR government. Their nomination forms are ruled valid by the Returning Officer, making the number of candidates in the election three.

Ip Lau Suk-yee, a lawmaker, declared that she will end her campaign to run in the chief executive election as she was not able to get enough nominations from the Election Committee.

According to Hong Kong Basic Law and other related laws, a Chinese citizen of no less than 40 years of age who is a permanent resident of Hong Kong SAR with no right of abode in any foreign country and has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of no less than 20 years, is eligible to be nominated as a candidate.

A candidate must submit the nomination form subscribed by no less than 150 members of the Election Committee and each member can nominate only one candidate.

The election will be held on March 26, when the Election Committee composed of nearly 1,200 members elects by secret ballot the Hong Kong SAR's fifth chief executive to be appointed by the central government.