Referendum to change New Zealand flag gets underway

This process could potentially replace the flag with one of five designs drawn from over 10,000 design ideas submitted by the public, with the winner to be pitted against the existing national flag next March. The referendum is the culmination of a long campaign by Prime Minister John Key to give New Zealand citizens the option to reassess their flag. Key personally considers the current flag, with its design of the Union Jack and four stars of the Southern Cross, to represent New Zealand's British colonial past and not its modern identity. Detractors have also noted that the flag is often confused with the near-identical design of neighboring Australia, with the leaders of both countries at times placed in front of mistaken flags. Though a simple majority vote by lawmakers can change the flag, the government has decided "that a flag that unites New Zealanders should be selected by all New Zealanders." As a result, a Flag Consideration Panel was appointed by the government, with the intention of discovering "how New Zealanders see themselves and their country, and how those values might best be expressed in a new flag." The government campaign to allow a choice to change the flag, however, has prompted much criticism, with very little enthusiasm or engagement from the public. Opposition party members have accused the ruling party of using the flag debate to distract from more significant domestic issues and also accused Key of wishing to make a new flag his "political legacy." Key, however, has drawn comparisons to ex-British colony Canada's change of flag in 1964, saying "no one remembers" the prime minister responsible for the change. Canada's change of flag provides Key's foremost inspiration, with the country's iconic maple leaf providing a distinctive rallying symbol for Canadians that he feels New Zealanders lack. "Show me a single Canadian on the planet who would go back to their old flag," Key has said. "Not a single Canadian would." This search for a distinctive national symbol, however, has proven to be a contentious element of the flag debate. Many supporters, including Key, favor the symbol of the silver fern, a plant endemic to New Zealand and commonly associated with the country both domestically and overseas. The silver fern is already used for various official purposes including on the New Zealand coat of arms and on its one dollar coin, while it is popularly used by its many sporting teams, most notably by the "All Blacks," its national men's rugby union team. A silver fern and Southern Cross on a red and blue background has polled as the most popular of the five flag designs for selection in the referendum, while three of the four others also feature motifs that represent silver ferns. A fifth design, called the "Red Peak" flag, is composed of red, black and blue triangles with a white chevron. Whether or not they support a change in the flag, voters in the first referendum are being asked to preferentially number the alternative flags from one to five, with preliminary results expected to be known on Dec. 11 and official results published on Dec. 15. Those favoring the current flag will get the opportunity to make the voices heard in the second referendum in March when they will choose between the current flag and the most popular alternative. A poll by local media in September showed 69 percent of people wanted to keep the existing flag, which was first used in 1869. Some of its supporters associate it with New Zealand's military valor and feel any change would undermine the wartime sacrifice of its veterans. "Our men and women have made terrible personal sacrifices and we honor their courage and commitment every time the current New Zealand flag is flown," the New Zealand Returned Services Association said in a statement.