NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. ¨C More than 70 percent of voters in Okinawa on Sunday voted against a plan to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from Ginowan to Henoko ¡ª a coastal area in the northeastern part of the main island ¡ª in a closely watched prefecture-wide referendum that was the first of its kind on the issue.
According to the Okinawa Prefectural Government, turnout hit 52.48 percent, topping the 50 percent threshold ¡ª a line seen by observers as lending legitimacy to the referendum.
The prefectural government said the number of ¡°no¡± votes stood at 434,273 or 72.2 percent of the total voters, and surpassed 396,632, the figure Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki garnered in last September¡¯s gubernatorial election when he campaigned on a platform of blocking the relocation plan.
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