New Zeeland's Flag Referendum

[Crandar]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...igns-announced

New Zeelanders decided that their flag is subject to change, so a referendum is planned to take place in early 2016, where the people will decide the future of their flag history.

40 flags were chosen from the initial suggestions, but a couple of days ago, the four final flags were announced to the public. The first referendum will determine which of the four flags is going to compete with the already existing one in the last and most important referendum.

The four flags:



Personally, I'm a bit disappointed, considering that apparently the most creative designs didn't make it to the semi-finals, probably due to the conservative tastes of the critics committee.

My favourite:

[Viking]

Maybe they should simply replace the flag of the UK with the flag of Papua New Guinea. At least that's a country that is located closer.

Alternatively, a banner representing the Roman Empire, which the ancestors of most New Zealanders once lived under.

[Hooahguy]

I really liked the fourth one, nice blend of the current flag and the All Blacks logo.

[rvg]

The one with the swirl. It looks like a cinnabon. I love those.

[Greyblades]

I'm kinda depressed that they're ditching the union flag, but mostly I'm annoyed that none of it's replacments look halfway decent.

[Gilrandir]

I'm kinda depressed that they're ditching the union flag, but mostly I'm annoyed that none of it's replacments look halfway decent.

However depressed or annoyed others may be, the kiwis are to choose their flag themselves. Way to go!

[Rhyfelwyr]

If those are the alternatives I would stick with the current flag. They need to find a way to combine their two sets of national colours (black/white and red/white/blue) in a way that works aesthetically.

Black and white by itself is pretty dull and has bad connotations (IS etc). Black and blue is a depressing combination. Red, white and blue without the classic NZ black and white doesn't seem worth the change.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Why don't they have a "would you like to change the flag?" question first, then spend millions on this.

My bet is they either keep the current flag or opt for the second one, which uses the same colours but replaces the Union Flag with the Fern. Choice no. three is supposed to be an unfurling fern but it could just as easily be a stylised breaking wave or a piece of Celtic Art and the last Flag looks like the logo for a Rugby team.

[Greyblades]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...ential-designs
These are the 40 flags they had to choose between and I am kinda pissed they didnt choose the one at the bottom right.

[Viking]

Why don't they have a "would you like to change the flag?" question first, then spend millions on this.

If the answer to that referendum is 'yes', then this alternative quickly becomes less favourable. That's because such a first referendum would be highly abstract.

The winner flag of a subsequent referendum might not have the support of a majority of the population just because it won, so then you'd need a third referendum to confirm that - one that is essentially a non-abstract clone of the first one, as the old flag might suddenly win again if the winner flag does not gain a majority.