Fellow citizens, meet your new, probably-maybe alternative flag
A mildly surprising upset.
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Hawke’s Bay
UPDATED 15 Dec: It’s official: Lockwood design has lock on first flag referendum vote
The preliminary results of the first leg of the flag referendum have been announced and, in a mildly surprising upset, the design that will almost certainly go head-to-head with New Zealand’s current ensign is Kyle Lockwood’s black, white and blue fern.
Polling had suggested that Mr Lockwood's all-but-identical red, white and blue design would win out.
If the vote had been a first-past-the-post one, it would have, but thanks to the vagaries of the preferential voting system the government elected to employ, the marginally less popular iteration currently has a slight edge.
The official final result will be announced at approximately 5.30pm on Tuesday December 15.
At this stage, though, this is how the vote is stacking up:
Kyle Lockwood’s black, white and blue fern – 50.53%
Kyle Lockwood’s red, white and blue fern – 49.47%
Aaron Dustin’s Red Peak was the third most popular option, followed by Alofi Kanter's black and white silver fern, with Andrew Fyfe’s Koru bringing up the rear.
The vote for the current flag versus the pretender to the nation’s poles is scheduled to run from 3-24 March next year.
Feeling excited about it yet?
The results are:
(Click to zoom)
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Staff Reporter
Fri, 11 Dec 2015
Fri, 11 Dec 2015
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Fellow citizens, meet your new, probably-maybe alternative flag
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