This is Your Flag, New Zealand

It's the moment New Zealand has been waiting for. The flag.

The process took 15 months but the results are now out:

More than two million people voted in the flag referendum.

The number of votes for the Silver Fern flag was 915,008 (43.2%) vs 1,200,003 (56.6%) for the current flag.

This was more votes than in any previous postal referendum, but as a proportion of total voters it was lower than a referendum on compulsory pensions in 1997.

The result is provisional. A final tally will be announced on Wednesday.

When the final result is confirmed, it will bring to a close a two-year process which culminated in the first-ever public vote by a country on its national flag.

The high levels of engagement were proof that the flag debate was worth having, Prime Minister John Key said today - regardless of the outcome.

"When some people said this is an issue that either captivates the minds of New Zealanders or they are not interested, then actually the numbers have proven that to be incorrect," he said.

 end of today to make up their mind. Ballot papers which are postmarked before 7pm, will still count in the referendum.

A final result will be confirmed next Wednesday once all late votes have been counted.

Read more at NZHerald.co.nz