The Republic of Shelley Island (R.S.I) has adopted a new flag.
Roughly a year ago, the nation adopted its current tricolor flag, which consists of a light blue band, a dark blue band, a yellow band, and a lion in the middle of the flag. The nation was excited upon the adoption of this flag, but this joy and excitement have since waned. Many pols attribute this decrease in support to the fact that many Shelley Islanders feel that it does not fully capture the identity of the nation.
The process for the adoption of the new flag was much quicker than it was for the previous flag, only taking six months as opposed to a full year. Roughly six months ago, the Congress of the Republic of Shelley Island passed legislation, later signed by the president, which established a commission to design a new flag. The commission accepted submissions from across the nation, as well as a single submission from outside the nation. The commission settled on five designs, which the citizenry voted on in a referendum held last month. The winning design, which is a modified version of the flag of Antigua and Barbuda, was created by John Bertand of Sainte Hélène with the consent of Sir Reginald Samuel, a renowned Antiguan and Barbudan artist and sculptor, who designed the flag of his home nation. Congress then passed legislation, later signed by the president, officially designating the design as the new national flag.
At the signing ceremony, President DMO thanked the designer and commission members for all of their work. He also extended tokens of gratitude to Sir Reginald Samuel, who was present at the ceremony, for his approval of the usage of his design. The president announced that, in accordance with the results of the second question on the referendum, the previous flag will be adopted as the flag of the president of the Republic of Shelley Island. This means that the flag will fly over La Maison Bleue when the president is there (the national flag will fly when the president is not there). The new flag will be flying over all government buildings and at the United Nations headquarters by the end of the week and will be available for purchase by the general public by the middle of next week.
