More than two million people voted in the referendum and just over 43 per cent wanted change, voting for Kyle Lockwood’s black and blue silver fern design.
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“More than two million New Zealanders made a decision to have their say which is a very good response”, he said.
“Naturally, I’m a little bit disappointed”, Key said at a news conference after the result was announced.
New Zealand, it turns out, is not changing its flag after all.
Prime Minister Key said that New Zealand has had, “a nationwide discussion about our flag, about nationhood, about what we stand for”.
Organizers said deciding the issue by popular vote represented a world first, with other countries changing flags by revolution, decree or legislation.
New Zealand has voted to keep its current flag, rejecting an alternative design that was selected following a ten-month process.
Despite winning the support of former All Black rugby captain Richie McCaw, who said the existing flag was too similar to Australia’s, the proposed design has been criticised as uninspiring by some.
Final results will be released by the Electoral Commission on March 30.
New Zealanders living overseas, including in the United Kingdom, were able to vote in the referendum.
Supporters of the prime minister, who openly supported the change, have described campaigners for the current flag as “immature” and politically motivated.
He wasn’t surprised at the current flag’s 13 point victory over the alternative silver fern design.
The referendum was the culmination of an 18-month process that is estimated to have cost over $17 million – a price tag that is also believed to have put off some voters.
New Zealanders were then asked to decide between the winning design and the existing flag. A final tally will be announced on Wednesday.
“I do think it [a flag change] will happen in the next decade”, Change the Flag campaign chair Lewis Holman told The Guardian.
Polls had suggested most New Zealanders wanted to keep the current flag.
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Thursday’s result will be preliminary, although the trickle of valid ballots expected to arrive in the coming days won’t change the result unless it’s extraordinarily close.
