New Zealand votes to keep current flag in referendum

New Zealanders have voted to keep their current flag after a national referendum.

Preliminary results show that 56.6% voted for no change in the current flag that includes the Union Jack, while 43.1% opted for the new design called Silver Fern that had won an earlier ballot. Voter turnout was at around 2.1 million people.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key had advocated the Silver Fern flag but called on New Zealanders to “embrace” the people’s decision.

The existing flag contains the British Union Jack flag, which many wanted to remove as it had harked to New Zealand’s days as a British colony.

The proposed new design combined four red starts symbolizing the Southern Cross constellation, also present in the current flag, with a silver fern and black in the corner – two motifs associated with New Zealand its famous All Blacks rugby team.

The Silver Fern had been selected to compete against the New Zealand flag from a shortlist of five candidates. The final shortlist had been narrowed down from a longer list of 40 potential flags.