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New Zealand will this month decide their national flag in a postal referendum that will be the culmination of months of polarizing and sometimes bitter debate.
Deputy Prime Minister Bill English on Wednesday urged all New Zealanders to cast their vote in the ballot, which opens Thursday and closes on March 26.
Voters will choose between the current flag -- a blue field with the British Union Jack in the top left corner and the Southern Cross constellation of red stars on the right --and a new design that retains the star formation, but replaces the Union Jack with a white stylized silver fern on a blue and black background.
The silver fern design emerged as the winner of an initial referendum late last year, in which New Zealanders were asked to grade their preferences for five possible alternatives.
"A total of 1,546,734 votes were cast in that first referendum, which is 48.78 percent of enrolled voters," English said in a statement, adding "this indicates the time is right for us to be having this conversation."
New Zealanders should celebrate the fact that their country was the first in the world to ask citizens for their views on the design of their national flag, he said.
"Our current flag has served us for over a century, and it is possible that a new flag would serve us for another century or longer," said English.
The process has been marred by controversy and rancor among the political parties since it was initiated by Prime Minister John Key after the 2014 general election.
Campaigners for the current flag have derided the silver fern design as a souvenir-type "tea towel" and a shallow corporate-style logo.
Political opponents have described it as a waste of money and a "vanity project" of the prime minister.
Critics of the present flag, including Key, say it is too similar to the Australian flag and that it is a hangover from the country's colonial past.
Key, who openly supports the silver fern contender, has said New Zealanders were unlikely to have another chance to choose their flag before the country became a republic -- an event that was unlikely to happen in his lifetime.
However, opinion polls have shown a consistently sound majority support the current flag.
The entire project is expected to cost over 26 million NZ dollars (17.24 million U.S. dollars).
