Voters in the US state of Mississippi voted on Tuesday for a new state flag with a magnolia flower, taking another step closer to replacing the current state flag with the Confederate emblem.
In the state called Magnolia, the new flag will feature a magnolia flower on a blue, red and gold background.
It will become the official flag of the state next year, assuming that lawmakers take the results of the referendum into account and pass an appropriate law.
The state announced a new flag contest in July.
The bill to change the current flag won the support of both major parties after protests against racism and police brutality began in many parts of the United States following the death of African American George Floid in May in Minneapolis.
The current Mississippi flag, approved in 1894, has a picture of the Confederate battle flag in the upper left.
The Mississippi flag is the last flag of a US state to include the Confederate emblem.
The flag of the Confederacy of Southern States, which lost the US Civil War, remains popular, often sparking heated controversy over racial relations, history and the meaning of symbols.
Admirers see it as a symbol of Southern heritage, but for opponents it is a painful reminder of racism and slavery in the southern states before the civil war.
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