HONG KONG, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong Chief Executive Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said Tuesday that by-elections should be held as soon as possible to fill the vacated seats of four disqualified lawmakers.

Lam told the media before attending an Executive Council meeting that when and how the elections are conducted is a matter for the Electoral Affairs Commission of Hong Kong to decide.

"Since the judicial proceedings of four of those cases, that is four vacant seats, have come to an end, then one would expect, and I am sure the Electoral Affairs Commission will take a similar view, that the by-elections should be conducted as quickly as possible," she said.

A court ruled that the oaths taken by members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo) Law Kwun-Chung, Yiu Chung-yim, Leung Chung-hang and Yau Wai-ching were invalid and disqualified them from the Legislative Council.

The legal cases involving Leung and Yau have come to an end after the Court of Final Appeal dismissed their bid to appeal their disqualification last month.

Law and Yiu have decided not to appeal.

Chief Exexutive Lam said the electoral commission's Chairman Justice Barnabas Fung will discuss the matter with his colleagues this week.

Preparations for the by-elections may take six months as three of the four vacant seats are returned by direct elections involving 400 polling stations and 14,000 staff, she added.