Nago: Voters on the Japanese island of Okinawa have rejected the relocation of a controversial US military base, according to exit polls from a non-binding referendum cited by local media on Sunday. It was not immediately clear whether sufficient numbers of opponents had turned out to meet the threshold required for Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki to “respect” the result of the symbolic referendum. For this to happen, one quarter of the eligible electorate — or around 290,000 people — had to vote for one of the three options: for or against relocation or a third choice of “neither.”
In any case, the vote is non-binding on the central government and turnout appeared to be hovering around 50 per cent, raising questions about what effect the referendum will have. The central government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to press on with moving the base and the relocation is also backed by Washington. The ballot asked residents whether they supported a plan to reclaim land at a remote coastal site for the relocation of the Futenma base from its current location in a heavily populated part of Okinawa. It was initially planned as a yes-no vote, but a “neither” option was added after several cities with close ties to the central government threatened to boycott the vote. — AFP
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