On 11 November 2004 Tokelau and New Zealand took steps to formulate a treaty that would turn Tokelau from a non-self-governing territory to a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand. Besides the treaty, a UN -sponsored referendum on self-determination took place, with the three islands voting on successive days starting 13 February 2006. (Tokelauans based in Apia, Samoa, voted on February 11.) 18 - . Out of 581 votes cast, 349 were for Free Association, being short of the two-thirds majority required for the measure to pass. 19 - The referendum was profiled (somewhat light-heartedly) in the 1 May 2006 issue of The New Yorker magazine. 20 - A repeat referendum took place on October 20–24, 2007, again narrowly failing to approve self-government. This time the vote was short by just 16 votes or 3%. 21 - In May 2008, the United Nations' Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged colonial powers "to complete the decolonization process in every one of the remaining 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories", including Tokelau. 22 - This led the New Zealand Herald to comment that the United Nations was "apparently frustrated by two failed attempts to get Tokelau to vote for independence". 23 - In April 2008, speaking as leader of the National Party, future New Zealand Prime Minister John Key stated that New Zealand had "imposed two referenda on the people of the Tokelau Islands", and questioned "the accepted wisdom that small states should undergo a de-colonisation process". 24 -