New Zealanders remain divided over new state flag design

New Zealanders know what their new potential national flag will look like, except that they’re not quite set on the colour.

In a postal ballot, New Zealanders chose from five designs, and their favourites feature the iconic silver fern next to the stars that make up the Southern Cross constellation. The only difference is, one flag is blue and black and the other is a darker blue and red.

Preliminary results showed the first option narrowly ahead of the second in a race that’s too close to call since not all votes are yet counted. The winner will be announced on Tuesday.

Whichever flag wins will then be pitted head-to-head against the current flag in a second vote to be held in March. The winning design has similarities to the current flag. It retains the four red stars representing the Southern Cross, but ditches the British Union Jack in favour of the fern, which has become a national symbol and is worn by many sports teams including the All Blacks rugby team.

New Zealanders were choosing between five options for an alternative flag. Two were designed by Kyle Lockwood with the colour in the top left corner black in one design and red in the other.

Electoral Commission figures showed it had 1.53 million votes by yesterday, representing 48% of voters in the country of 4.6 million.

Deputy prime minister Bill English said the results showed there was a strong interest in the process.