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New Zealand rejects flag change
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NEW Zealanders have rejected a change to their national flag, voting 56.6 percent to 43.2 percent to keep the current colonial design.
The preliminary results were revealed on Thursday, with full results expected next week.
The current flag, which bears the British Union Jack, was pitted against a new design featuring the 'Silver Fern' in a mail vote during March. Over 2 million votes were received, according to the electoral commission. 915,000 voters embraced the new design, but 1.2 million rejected it.
This result represents a significant loss to New Zealand's popular Prime Minister John Key, who has campaigned vigorously for a change. The rejection was somewhat expected, with late-stage polling giving the old flag a strong lead.
The small Pacific nation went through a NZ$26 million (113 million yuan) referendum process in the run up to this vote. Over 10,000 designs were submitted to a panel of prominent New Zealanders, who then narrowed the list to five.
Voters were asked to choose between the five in the first round of mail voting in late 2015, with the winner going up against the current flag in a second round this March. The Silver Fern, an unofficial symbol of the nation best known internationally for appearing on the All Blacks rugby team’s jersey, was present in three of the proposed designs, including the winning alternative.
But the affinity for the Silver Fern was clearly not enough to carry the Silver Fern flag to victory.
In a social media post just after the result was announced, Prime Minister Key asked the country to unify behind the old flag.
"New Zealand has voted to retain our current flag. I encourage all NZers to use it, embrace it and, more importantly, be proud of it."
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