Instead of the alternate flag’s original black and white fern design, the current flag’s red stars were retained as a compromise, he said.
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The preliminary voting result was announced on Thursday, and final numbers are expected next week.
New Zealand has voted to keep its current flag, rejecting an alternative design that was selected following a ten-month process.
Voter turnout in the mail ballot was over 66 per cent by Wednesday, with 2.1 million votes cast from the country’s 3.2 million registered voters.
Of those, just 0.23 per cent were informal votes and 0.21 per cent were invalid votes.
This was more votes than in any previous postal referendum, but as a proportion of total voters it was lower than a referendum on compulsory pensions in 1997.
The current flag dates from New Zealand’s days as a British colony; the country remains a part of the British Commonwealth, with Queen Elizabeth as its nominal head of state.
The New Zealand electoral commission said 56.61 percent of voters chose to stay with the existing flag, while 43.16 opted for an alternative “silver fern” design.
The vote had been orchestrated by Prime Minister John Key who was an eager proponent of change.
Deputy Prime Minister Bill English said this had been a robust democratic process that had allowed New Zealand to discuss how it wanted to be represented on the world stage.
He tweeted that all New Zealanders should embrace the decision.
Mr Key said the referendum would not leave a mark on his leadership.
Andrew Little speaking to media after the vote.
“John Key alienated people by politicising the process and attacking those who didn’t like his choice of flag”. Panel members were admittedly influenced by this and three of the four flag options featured ferns.
Mr Little said a discussion about New Zealand becoming a republic should happen before another debate on changing the flag.
New Zealanders were then asked to decide between the winning design and the existing flag.
In New Zealand, the fern is of huge symbolic importance in the native Maori culture and is also a motif associated with the country’s famous rugby team.
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Said Wellington resident Sarah Newbold: “I voted to keep the flag – not really because I did not like the idea of change, more because the proposed new flag is so very ugly and a bit embarrassing…”
