Over 70 Pct of Okinawa Voters Reject U.S. Base Relocation

Naha, Okinawa Pref., Feb. 24 (Jiji Press)--More than 70 pct of voters in Okinawa Prefecture who cast ballots in a closely watched referendum on Sunday opposed the central government's plan to relocate a controversial U.S. military base within the southern prefecture. Votes of opposition totaled 434,273, or 71.74 pct of all votes cast, far surpassing a quarter of all eligible voters in Okinawa and even exceeding the some 397,000 votes that Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki garnered in the gubernatorial election last September on a platform of blocking the relocation. The referendum, the first to seek judgment on the base relocation alone, asked voters if they support or oppose the landfill work needed for building a replacement facility for the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station, while giving them a third option of "neither." Votes of support stood at 114,933, while 52,682 residents voted "neither." Speaking to reporters past midnight Sunday, Tamaki said he will inform Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe soon of the clear message of local residents that they oppose the base relocation plan, which is based on a Japan-U.S. agreement. The results of the referendum have no legally binding power. Still, under the prefectural ordinance on the referendum, if the most popular of the three options is backed by a quarter or more of all eligible voters in Okinawa, the governor must report the results to the Japanese prime minister and the U.S. president. The voting results have "a very important implication," Tamaki said. "I will demand (the central government) change its policy immediately and abandon the relocation work by squarely facing the staunch will of the people." The relocation plan calls for transferring the heliport functions of the Futenma base, located in a congested area in Ginowan, to the less populated Henoko coastal area in Nago. The referendum results show public confidence in Tamaki's bid to stop the relocation as the governor demands that the Futenma base be moved out of Okinawa, the relatively small island prefecture that hosts the bulk of U.S. military installations in Japan. The results also suggest a confrontation between the central and prefectural governments over Tokyo's expected application with the Okinawa government for changes to the current reclamation work design after the discovery of weak ground at the landfill site in Henoko. The central government, which is not legally bound by the referendum results, has made it clear that it will push ahead with the Futenma base relocation work regardless of the results of the referendum. But the attitude is likely provoke a backlash from Okinawa residents and may affect a House of Representatives by-election in an Okinawa constituency in April and the House of Councillors election in the summer. As of Sunday, eligible voters in Okinawa totaled 1,153,591, according to the prefectural government. Voter turnout stood at 52.48 pct, 10.76 percentage points lower than in the gubernatorial election but above the 50 pct line targeted by the All Okinawa camp, led by Governor Tamaki, which opposes the relocation plan. The grouping waged a campaign to urge voters to cast ballots. By contrast, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, opposition parties in the prefectural assembly, stopped short of waging an organized campaign to rally support for the relocation plan, partly in an effort to prevent a rise in public interest in the referendum. END