On 1 November, 1911, the Qing Government appointed Yuan Shikai as the prime minister of the imperial cabinet.
Overseas Chinese and domestic critics believed that Yuan was qualified to be president. They suggested that the revolutionaries should persuade Yuan to leave the Qing and join the revolutionaries; he would then be selected as the first president of the republic. On 9 November, Huang Xing told Yuan it is hoped that he would resist the imperial reign.
On November 16, Sun Yat-sen telegrammed the revolutionary government and informed of his agreement to select Yuan as the president.
The revolutionary group in Wuchang led by Li Yuanhong came together with Shanghai-based group led by Chen Qimei and Chen Dequan to prepare for the establishment of a new central government.
On November 9, Li Yuanhong, under the title of "Head of Wuchang Military Government", telegrammed all the independent provinces and asked them to send representatives to a conference in Wuchang to establish a new central government.
On November 30, provincial representatives convened the first conference in Hankou. On December 2, the representatives decided to frame the organizational outline of the Provisional Government. The conference passed the outline the very next day. The outline established a Provisional Government in Nanking; it also confirmed that the new government would be a republic.
Instead of attending Nanking's assembly, Song Jiaoren and Chen Qimei held an assembly in Jiangsu on December 4. The assembly voted and decided to telegram Sun Yat-sen and ask him to return to China in order to direct the main political operation.
On December 11, the representatives from seventeen provinces arrived in Nanking, where they continued to discuss the establishment of a new Central Government. On December 14, they decided to elect a president. However, the representatives were divided into two factions - one favoring Li Yuanhong, the other favoring Huang Xing. The situation seemed to be deadlocked. It was resolved the next day when the representatives were informed that Yuan Shikai was willing to support the republic. As a result, they decided to halt the presidential election and await Yuan's decision.
On December 25, Sun Yat-sen, accompanied by "General" Homer Lea, his foreign adviser, arrived in Shanghai from Marseilles. Due to Sun's prestige, most revolutionary organizations voiced their support for him and Sun was therefore the popular choice for the president. Even the constitutionists and conservatives believed that Sun would be the ideal choice for president.
On December 29, the presidential election was held in Nanking and Sun Yat-sen received 16 valid votes out of 17; thus he was elected the first president of the Republic of China.
