Voters on the Japanese island of Okinawa have rejected the relocation of a controversial US military base, according to official results from a non-binding referendum Sunday. With 99 percent of ballots counted, some 72 percent had voted against the move with 19 percent in favour, according to the local government.
Opponents of the relocation - some 434,000 - had turned out in sufficient numbers to meet the threshold required for Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki to "respect" the result of the symbolic referendum, it said. 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 was just above 50 percent, raising questions about what effect the referendum will have. The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to press on with moving the base and the relocation is also backed by Washington.
The relocation of the Futenma base to Nago, 50 kilometres (30 miles) away, was first agreed in 1996 as the US sought to calm local anger after US servicemen gang raped a local schoolgirl. But the plan has long been stalled in part over local opposition.
The ballot asked residents whether they supported a plan to reclaim land at a remote coastal site for the relocation of Futenma 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. Polls opened early on Sunday morning, with about 1.15 million Okinawans eligible to vote.
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