Preliminary results show that New Zealand prefers the Silver Fern with the black, white and blue background, if it had to replace the current flag.
The next most preferred flag design is Option E: Silver Fern (Red, White and Blue), followed in order of preference by Option B: Red Peak, Option D: Silver Fern (Black and White) and Option C: Koru, according to the Electoral Commission.
Preliminary results show this flag to be the preferred option.
This is the countries second choice should the flag be changed.
The total votes received were 1,527,042, which includes 148,022 informal votes (9.7 per cent) and 2,476 invalid votes (0.16 per cent).
'While this is a preliminary result, New Zealanders can now turn their attention to deciding whether to keep the current flag, or replace it,” says deputy Prime Minister Bill English.
'We'll know definitively once the Electoral Commission announces the official result on December 15.”
That design will then proceed to the second, binding referendum held between March 3-24.
Voter turnout was 48.16 per cent.
Turnout is calculated by taking the total votes received as a percentage of the total number of voters enrolled as at November 19, which was 3,170,726.
The breakdown of the iterative count process of the votes received is available online at www.electionresults.govt.nz.
A breakdown of informal and invalid votes is as follows:
Informal votes are those where a clear first preference could not be determined. This can be because the voter leaves the paper blank, the voter takes deliberate action to spoil the paper, or an error by the voter means that their intention is not clear.
Invalid votes are excluded from the count and include, for example, voting papers that cannot be processed because the voter has made the QR code unreadable, or voting papers that have been cancelled as a result of replacement voting papers being issued.
choose between the most preferred flag design selected in this referendum and the current flag.
The flag that receives the most votes will be the official flag of New Zealand.
Voters should ensure that they are enrolled and their enrollment details are up to date well before voting begins in the second referendum at www.elections.org.nz/enrol.
11 comments
im
Posted on 12-12-2015 08:27 | By Capt_Kaveman
Happy with either, all it want is to remove the union jack so these will be fine and far better than any submitted, there also was a green version of this which was better but this will do
Think carefully
Posted on 12-12-2015 11:38 | By Annalist
This is likely the one and only option to get a distinctive flag. So don't get caught up in the petty politics and posturing, don't take too much notice of those obsessed with the idea we somehow fought under the flag. If you take those lines NOTHING would ever change. Decide which flag you prefer yourself, then make your decision either way.
Capt
Posted on 12-12-2015 12:05 | By maildrop
That says it all - any will do. Shows how much a flag means to you. Thankfully, that is why you will be in the minority come voting day.
Not true.
Posted on 12-12-2015 14:31 | By morepork
"Preliminary results show that New Zealand prefers the Silver Fern with the black, white and blue background..." The results show no such thing. The red version had many more first choices than this one but was pushed down by the preferential voting system that was used, when other first choices were discarded. NEITHER of these flags (or any of the others ) represent more than 50% of the total choices available, or less than 15% of the population as a whole, so whatever you go with, 85% of the population either are opposed to it or didn't vote for it. They should have had a single poll with the 5 choices and the current one; no preferential PC, just first past the post... would have saved millions and given a more acceptable result. This is a perfect example of bureaucracy indulging itself.
Flags
Posted on 12-12-2015 16:12 | By Kenworthlogger
Freakin ugly. Keep the status quo.
seesee
Posted on 12-12-2015 16:50 | By SeeSee
Can some one please tell me where there is a Silver fern on this so called chosen Flag. To me, it is a white fern, which is meaningless
I agree with morepork
Posted on 12-12-2015 17:51 | By R1Squid
From the statistics presently available, a great number of votes were deemed invalid hence uncounted. And so, those that purposely did not complete the voting form as required simply aimed the gun at their foot and had not say at all. Also, those that shot off their foot now cannot complain about the outcome whatever it is. Going further, not engaging in your right to vote really does suppress your right to complain!
maildrop
Posted on 12-12-2015 18:12 | By Capt_Kaveman
im a born NZer and dont have any links with the union jack so i think its a good move, remember this is NOT England
@Morepork
Posted on 12-12-2015 20:06 | By GreertonCynic
Bang On.
tea towel
Posted on 12-12-2015 21:33 | By Captain Sensible
It looks like a tea towel I saw in a souvenir shop ....made in China, but overpriced.
My advice...
Posted on 14-12-2015 10:56 | By morepork
If you voted for the black flag or are OK with it, then vote for it again in the next referendum. Otherwise, vote to retain the current flag.The black flag currently has 44% of the votes that were cast, but only around half of the possible votes were made. So it has 44% of 50% of the population = 22%. Therefore, 78% of the population either don't approve of it or don't care. We cannot assume that the 1.5 million who didn't vote don't care; many of them may be supporting the current flag. Either way, it would be shameful to adopt a national symbol backed by 22% of the population. If you vote to retain the current flag there will be another referendum in about 10 years and the powers-that-be may have learned something: 6 flags, first past the post (with a minimum of 50%), ONE referendum.
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