Strong Yes Vote, Low Turnout In Japan Bases Poll

The Okinawa prefectural election commission said that with 97 per cent of the vote counted, 469,770, estimated at 89.5 per cent, voted in favour of the initiative, while just 43,672, estimated at 8.3 per cent, were against.

Turnout was just 59.5 per cent of the 910,000 eligible voters in the plebiscite, Japan's first provincial referendum on any issue.

Supporters of shutting down the US bases had hoped for a turnout of 70 per cent to help fortify their campaign.

The non-binding referendum demands the streamlining of US Bases on the island and a review of the status of forces agreement, which governs the legal standing of US military personnel in Japan.

 

Approval was never in doubt since no one, except for a handful of ultra-nationalists, had campaigned for a no vote.

But the result failed to settle the one-year-old confrontation between Okinawa and the central government over US bases, sparked last september by the rape of an okinawan schoolgirl by US servicemen.