As predicted after he had been endorsed by Beijing, Mr Tsang avoided a contest for the territory's top political post after two potential rivals failed to secure enough nominations to mount a challenge.

At the close of nominations yesterday, Mr Tsang said he had secured the support of 710 members of a 796-seat electoral committee, which is packed with Beijing's supporters. An election, scheduled for July 10, will be cancelled.

"The process was very smooth," Mr Tsang said at his campaign office. "I feel very excited. I feel I have more responsibilities".

Although the selection process has angered democrats who are calling for universal suffrage, Mr Tsang's appointment is likely to be welcomed by most people in Hong Kong. Polls show he is supported by 70% of them.

This is in sharp contrast to his predecessor, Tung Chee-hwa, who stood down in March, two years before the end of his term. Although he cited ill-health as the reason for his resignation, the first post-colonial leader of the territory was widely believed to have been pushed out by Beijing because he mishandled the Sars crisis, failed to push through an anti-subversion law, and became such a figure of hate that hundreds of thousands of protesters joined pro-democracy marches.

Mr Tsang, who was Mr Tung's deputy, will have only two years to show he is better at the difficult balancing act required of a leader under the one-country, two-system formula that gives Hong Kong more autonomy than anywhere else in China.

When he completes the remaining term of his predecessor in 2007, the selection process must take place again.

A pragmatist rather than an ideologue, Mr Tsang is not expected to push for major political reforms in the interim.

But his rivals in the leadership race - pro-democracy lawmaker Lee Wing-tat and legislator Chim Pui-chung -said the method of selection-through-nomination was unfair because Mr Tsang had refused a debate, there had been no equality of access to the media, and members of the selection committee had had no opportunity to make a choice through secret ballot.

Mr Lee said he had only been able to collect 51 endorsements because potential supporters had been put under heavy pressure by the pro-Beijing camp. "If they show any intention to nominate me, they will receive many phone calls," he told Associated Press.

Until the end of British rule in 1997, Hong Kong's leader. was not elected, but was appointed by London.

The current voting system is a plutocratic hodge-podge agreed by both governments before the handover. China has blocked further reforms.

Despite his close links with the democratic camp, Mr Tsang has veered away from political reform. Instead, he has focused on maintaining the territory's economic advantage over the mainland. The pillars of Hong Kong's success, he says, are an independent judiciary, a level playing field, a clean, efficient civil service and the free flow of information.

Yesterday, the legislator Leung Kwok-hung, known as Long Hair, led a small group of protesters outside Tsang's office. He scuffled with security guards and shouted: "Shame on you, Donald Tsang _ Small-circle election. It's worse than pigs and dogs."