Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- New Zealand today completes a referendum on child spanking, a vote that may prompt changes to a law that makes it harder for parents to defend themselves when charged with assaulting their children.

About 83 percent of voters will say “no” in the ballot that asks whether “a smack as part of good parental correction” should be a crime, according to a TV One News Colmar Brunton opinion poll on Aug. 3. Voting, taking place by mail since July 31, ends today.

Prime Minister John Key will “have to respond” to a “strong turnout and a strong ‘no’ vote,” said Larry Baldock, leader of the Kiwi Party and a supporter of the non-binding initiative. Backers have already rented a hotel ballroom for the victory party, he said.

Child spanking has been an issue in New Zealand politics since the 2006 beating deaths of twin 3-month-old boys led to passage of the 2007 law. The country had the third-most child deaths from maltreatment among 27 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations, according to a 2003 report from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, which cited average annual deaths for 1994 to 1998.

The report showed New Zealand had 1.2 deaths per 100,000 children under age 15 because of physical abuse and neglect.

Twenty-four countries have banned corporal punishment of children, including Spain, Germany and Israel, according to the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children.

Poverty, Drug Use

The 2007 law removed “reasonable force” as a defense available to a parent charged with assaulting a child. Opponents of the law say it doesn’t address the poverty and drug use behind most child abuse, wastes police time and criminalizes well-meaning parents.

Last month, New Zealand’s Human Rights Commission said police appeared to be exercising their discretion properly. In the six months to the start of October 2008, only one of nine smacking “incidents” and four of 49 assault charges involving minor acts of physical discipline were prosecuted, it said.

The referendum asks: “Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?”

Key has called the wording “pretty weird” and a case of “yes means no and no means yes,” the Sunday Star Times newspaper reported on Aug. 9. He has also said he won’t change the law unless he sees evidence it isn’t working.

The prime minister and opposition Labour Party leader Phil Goff said they won’t cast votes on the measure. Voting is voluntary in the referendum, which was proposed by Sheryl Savill, who manages a drug education program for the group Focus on the Family.

Vote Results

Preliminary results will probably be available from 8:30 p.m. local time today, according to the Elections New Zealand Web site. The final count is expected by 5 p.m. on Aug. 25.

Sue Bradford, a Green Party lawmaker who opposes the initiative and first proposed the 2007 law, said by phone she expected “yes” votes will be in the minority.

Many people will deface their ballots before mailing them in to protest “the confused nature of the question and the NZ$9 million ($6 million) cost to the taxpayer” of the vote, she said.

Disputes over the referendum’s wording prompted Bradford to seek changes in the rules that would help ensure voters aren’t faced with an initiative that is confusing.

“I’m in discussions with the minister of justice” about a proposal to amend the system, she said. “We need to change the law so that it is a clearer process.”

Baldock said the child-spanking referendum’s purpose is clear enough. It is to oppose the 2007 law that he believes puts parents on the defensive and discourages proper discipline.

“We now have a situation in New Zealand where many teachers are concerned that children are not being corrected properly at home,” Baldock said. “The truth is that correction requires some kind of pain.”

To contact the reporter for this story: Dave McCombs in Tokyo at dmccombs@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 21, 2009 00:04 EDT