An New Zealand republican movement opinion poll shows that a majority 45% of citizens are willing for Charles Windsor to become their head of state when his mother dies. Another 43% want their country to become a republic.
Support for the feudal system of appointing the head of state is down from 48% in December 2008.
Prime Minister John Key, who is a republican, told radio station Newstalk ZB that he did not support a referendum on New Zealand becoming a republic “at this time”. His comments followed a call from UnitedFuture party leader Peter Dunne’s for a referendum by the time of the next general election in 2011. Mr. Dunne said that he was “tired of politicians who say it is probably inevitable we will become a republic at some stage but who are unwilling to do anything to bring it about – that is extremely weak”
Lewis Holden of the New Zealand Republican Movement accused the prime minister of using current economic and social problems as an excuse. “Whether they support the monarchy or a republic”, he said, “New Zealanders want the chance to choose who their future head of State is. With the Cabinet Office helping legal academic Alison Quentin-Baxter research a book on the implications of the end of the Queen’s reign, the debate is reaching a new and crucial phase”.
In an editorial comment the New Zealand Herald said “If a republic is, indeed, inevitable, why wait until the end of the Queen’s reign? Delay in the implementation of any good idea serves no good purpose. In the case of a republic, it only postpones the benefits implicit in the pursuit of a singular, unambiguous identity.”