WELLINGTON: New Zealanders began voting Thursday on whether to adopt a new flag, in a referendum Prime Minister John Key has called a once-in-a-generation chance to ditch Britain’s Union Jack from the national banner.
After 18 months of heated debate, Kiwis must choose between an existing flag that Key insists is a colonial relic and an alternative silver fern design critics label “an ugly beach towel”.
About three million ballot papers are being distributed in the South Pacific nation of 4.5 million people for the vote, conducted only by post, which closes on March 24.
The result will be binding and John Burrows, the head of a panel overseeing the referendum, said New Zealanders would have to live with their choice far into the future.
“Whatever the decision, this flag will fly for generations to come,” he said.
Key said the vote was a rare chance to update and modernise a national symbol for the first time since independence from Britain.
“If they don’t vote for change now, they won’t get another chance until we become a republic,” he told Radio New Zealand this week. “I don’t think that’s going to happen in my lifetime.”
On one side of the ballot is the existing flag, a dark blue ensign with the Union Jack in the top left corner and four red stars representing the Southern Cross constellation.
On the other is the proposed alternative — a silver fern on a black-and-blue background, which retains the four Southern Cross stars.
Opinion polls point to a decisive win for the existing banner, with a survey this week putting its support at 63 percent, against 26 percent for the new version.
