New Zealand Flag: Voting opens in first round of referendum on flag future
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...eferendum.html
Voting opens in New Zealand flag referendum
New Zealanders being asked to choose between flag designs with winner to be pitted against existing flag in second referendum
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Originally Posted by Telegraph
New Zealanders began voting Friday to select a potential new flag as the South Pacific country considers dropping Britain's Union Jack from its national banner. Voters are being asked to choose between five flag options in a postal referendum that will continue until December 11.
The winning design will then go head-to-head with the existing flag in a second referendum to be held in March next year. Prime Minister John Key has made the flag reform issue a pet project since his conservative government won a third term late last year. He sees the current flag, with the Union Jack in the corner, as an anachronism, arguing the country needs a standard "that screams New Zealand".
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Originally Posted by Telegraph
Key has also expressed frustration the flag – which features four red stars representing the Southern Cross on a dark blue background – is frequently confused with Australia's. Four of the five designs in the first referendum feature the fern, the informal national emblem. The fifth, dubbed "Red Peak", consists of red, black and blue triangles with a white chevron. It was a late addition to the line up after a social media campaign for its inclusion.
An opinion poll last month predicted a design featuring a white fern on a red and blue background would win the first referendum. But separate polling suggests the existing flag is likely to decisively win the second referendum in March with about 65 per cent of the vote.
My favourite of the newly proposed flags is option B purely because it is closest the existing flag. If I were voting though I would pick in the first referendum the least popular flag according to the opinion polls (or second most unpopular) in order to ensure a weaker as possible design goes up against the existing flag and then loses. By all means according to the opinion polling, the existing flag - which contains the history of New Zealand - is likely to win.
You don't change your flag just because it is somehow 'dated' (why so anyway?). Indeed a flag should be all about the history of your nation and often the best flags are those which are older and were not designed in the modern era: think of Britain's Union flag, America's Stars and Stripes, Australia's Commonwealth star and the Nordic crosses of the Scandenavian kingdoms.
Thoughts?
