Okinawa government issues notice on Feb. 24 U.S. base vote

February 14, 2019

Naha, Okinawa Pref.--The Okinawa prefectural government on Thursday made public notice to hold a local referendum on Feb. 24 on the planned relocation of a U.S. base within the southernmost Japan prefecture.

Through the referendum, the so-called All Okinawa camp, including Governor Denny Tamaki, aims to block the plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in Ginowan to the Henoko coastal district in Nago.

The vote "offers a very important opportunity for residents to show their own wishes directly," Tamaki told reporters at the prefectural government's office in Naha, Okinawa's capital. "I want voters to cast their precious ballots."

In the referendum, residents will be asked to vote for or against the central government's landfill work off Henoko needed for the base relocation, or a third option of neither choice.

The focus would be how many no votes will be cast and how the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will react to the results.

An ordinance to hold the referendum was set up following a direct request by a civic group opposing the relocation. The referendum will be held in all of Okinawa's 41 cities, towns and villages.

Under the ordinance, the governor must inform the prime minister and the U.S. president of the referendum results promptly if the most popular choice receives support from a quarter or more of all eligible voters.

The prefectural government said Thursday that the number of eligible voters totals 1,156,295, meaning that the threshold is slightly lower than 290,000.

But even if Okinawa voters reject the landfill work in the referendum, the voting result will not carry any legal power to make the central government stop the work.

The Liberal Democratic Party, an opposition party in the prefecture's assembly, will refrain from overt campaign activities, as it does not hope to draw public attention to movements against the work.

Meanwhile, a group led by the Social Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party, held a rally in Henoko in front of a gate of the Marine Corps' Camp Schwab to call for voting against the landfill.

This will be the first prefectural referendum in Okinawa on a U.S. base issue since 1996, when a vote was held on U.S. base reductions. In the following year, Nago held a local referendum on a proposal to build a heliport off Henoko.

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference that the central government will strive patiently to obtain local residents' understanding, stressing that the landfill work will continue regardless of the voting results.

Suga also said the government will not stop the work during the period leading up to the referendum. Jiji Press