NEW ZEALAND – New Zealanders have voted in favour of keeping the current national flag in a referendum, after a 17-month exercise that cost taxpayers NZ$26 million.

Prime Minister John Key, who was the main advocate for a change, has accepted the people’s decision gracefully.

Speaking to media at Auckland Airport on Thursday night before flying out to the USA, Key says he was “a little bit disappointed” the flag didn’t change.

Local media reported the current flag won 56.6 per cent of votes, and the proposed one received 43.2 per cent, out of 2,124,507 votes.

Those results did not include any ballots that were already in the post but had not yet been received.

The final results, which are not expected to significantly change, will be released on March 30.

Those who wanted change said the existing flag, featuring the United Kingdom’s union jack in the corner, was too closely tied to colonial history and was too easily confused with the Australian flag.

Former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw, a prominent supporter of the new flag, said he realised this before last year’s Rugby World Cup final against Australia.

“The moment when I decided a new flag would be great for our country was when running out at Twickenham and seeing the two flags looking so similar,” McCaw wrote on Facebook last month.

The proposed alternative was a silver fern on a black-and-blue background, which retains the four stars.

The design was meant to highlight the silver fern, widely considered New Zealand’s national symbol, but was likened by critics to a corporate logo.

Created by designer Kyle Lockwood, it beat four other proposed flags in a preliminary referendum last December.

“I voted to keep the flag, not really because I didn’t like the idea of change, more because the proposed new flag is so very ugly and a bit embarrassing,” Wellington resident Sarah Newbold said.

“And it reminds me too much of rugby and a corporate logo.”

More than 10,000 potential designs were submitted when Mr Key announced the referendum in October 2014, before that was whittled down to a shortlist of 40.

These were highlighted with glee by international media and comedian John Oliver, who offered his own suggestions which included references to bungee jumping and sheep.

The multi-million-dollar price tag for the flag referendum had caused some grumbling by voters and opposition politicians, but no major political fallout is expected.

PM Key said he will now be supporting the current flag, and he hopes to see more of it at events like sports games.

“I hope we get out and celebrate our flag,” he said.

Key promised there would be no more attempts to change the flag while he was in office.

Derived from the maritime British blue ensign, the Kiwi flag shows the stars of the Southern Cross, representing the country’s geographical position in the South Pacific, and the Union Jack, a nod to British colonial history.

Other countries have changed their flag in recent times, most notably South Africa in 1994 and Canada in 1965. - PNC