AGL 40.40 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (0.5%)
AIRLINK 129.25 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (0.11%)
BOP 6.81 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (3.18%)
CNERGY 4.13 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (2.48%)
DCL 8.73 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (3.31%)
DFML 41.40 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (0.36%)
DGKC 87.75 Increased By ▲ 0.75 (0.86%)
FCCL 33.85 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (1.5%)
FFBL 66.40 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (0.76%)
FFL 10.69 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (1.42%)
HUBC 113.51 Increased By ▲ 2.81 (2.54%)
HUMNL 15.65 Increased By ▲ 0.42 (2.76%)
KEL 4.87 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (1.88%)
KOSM 7.62 Decreased By ▼ -0.21 (-2.68%)
MLCF 43.10 Increased By ▲ 1.20 (2.86%)
NBP 61.50 Increased By ▲ 1.00 (1.65%)
OGDC 192.20 Increased By ▲ 9.40 (5.14%)
PAEL 27.05 Increased By ▲ 1.69 (6.66%)
PIBTL 7.26 Increased By ▲ 1.00 (15.97%)
PPL 150.50 Increased By ▲ 2.69 (1.82%)
PRL 24.96 Increased By ▲ 0.40 (1.63%)
PTC 16.25 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.06%)
SEARL 71.30 Increased By ▲ 0.80 (1.13%)
TELE 7.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.68%)
TOMCL 36.29 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.03%)
TPLP 8.05 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (2.55%)
TREET 16.30 Increased By ▲ 1.00 (6.54%)
TRG 51.56 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-0.27%)
UNITY 27.35 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
WTL 1.27 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (3.25%)
BR100 9,967 Increased By 125.2 (1.27%)
BR30 30,751 Increased By 714.7 (2.38%)
KSE100 93,292 Increased By 771.2 (0.83%)
KSE30 29,017 Increased By 230.5 (0.8%)

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.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019

Comments

Comments are closed.