KEY POINTS:
Tokelau has voted to remain a New Zealand colony by just 16 votes in a second close referendum.
A two-thirds majority was needed for the South Pacific territory to decolonise and move towards self-governance in free association with New Zealand.
The independence faction gained 64.4 per cent of the 697 votes cast. A further five were deemed invalid.
A clearly deflated Ulu (leader) of Tokelau, Kuresa Nasau, told the Herald: "There'll be another day."
This is the second time in 15 months the territory has failed to agree to decolonise. The previous vote was 60 per cent in favour.
Mr Nasau said: "With our current status as a colony, we have no political arrangement to meet China, the US and others. We do not have any authority to make treaties with others."
The islanders have, in effect, been governing themselves for all of their 130 years as a British protectorate and then a New Zealand colony, with the Wellington-based administrator for the islands, David Payton, content to let the atolls run along their traditional lines of village elders.
As a separate state rather than a colony, though, Tokelau would have opened itself up to international aid rather than just New Zealand money.
Wellington has promised to continue funding the islands. The present rate is about $6000 for each of the 1447 citizens.
Like Tuvalu to the west, Tokelau - which is no higher than 5m above sea level - is increasingly threatened from rising waters caused by global warming.
Houses are built on stilts, sea walls are under construction and waves are crawling further and further into the 128 islets that surround the lagoons on the three atolls.
Some scientists have warned that Tokelau could be submerged within 20 years, making its self-governance brief. Mr Nasau claims Tokelau will be the first nation threatened with disappearance through global warming.
More than 6000 Tokelauans live in New Zealand.
