Almost 10,000 flag designs collected by New Zealand Flag Consideration Panel

The New Zealand Flag Consideration Panel will sift 50 to 75 national flag designs from almost 10,000 before it choose four which will go to a referendum for whether to change national flag later this year, chairman John Burrows said Friday.

Burrows said, the panel received hundreds of designs online just ahead of the deadline at midnight Thursday and these will need to go through the same robust checking process as others to ensure they meet the guidelines and terms and conditions.

The final count would be completed within 48 hours, and the final number could reach 10,000.

According to the procedure, the panel will first published a list up to 75 designs in mid-August and announce the four designs in mid September, which will go to the first referendum in November and December.

After the public choose the favorite design in the first referendum, they need to decide whether to use the design to replace the current national flag in the second referendum next March and April.

The Southern Cross and red, white and blue colors of the current flag remained the most common features of submitted designs.

The current New Zealand flag was adopted as the official national flag in 1902, with the Union Jack image in the up-left of the flag.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has said before that he believes that the current New Zealand flag is out of date and does not symbolize the country's current identity. His cabinet started the process of changing national flag after the election last September. Endi