New Zealand voters reject new Silver Fern flag, stick with Union Jack stalwart

New Zealanders decided to keep their old flag after all

(Image credit: Marty Melville/AFP/Getty Images)

published 24 March 2016

After two years, $17 million, and the winnowing down of 10,292 flag entries to one finalist, New Zealand voters have decided to stick with their old flag, a blue banner with Britain's Union Jack in the upper left and the Southern Cross constellation on the right. The proposed new national flag kept the Southern Cross but replaced the Union Jack with a silver fern. The national referendum, which ended Thursday, favored the old flag by a preliminary margin of 57 percent to 43 percent.

The referendum was a rare defeat for Prime Minister John Key, who had pushed for a new flag, arguing that the old one was a relic of New Zealand's colonial days and was too similar to Australia's flag. According to the electoral commission, 1.2 million New Zealanders disagreed with him, while 915,008 voted for the Silver Fern. Key took it it stride, tweeting that now that the old flag is the new flag, "I encourage all NZers to use it, embrace it and, more importantly, be proud of it."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.