Residents of a small city on Japan's southern island of Okinawa voted today in a mayoral election that could affect a controversial plan to build an airport for the US military.
The planned construction of a US Marine helicopter base in the coastal city of Nago is a key issue and the poll outcome could embarrass US President George W. Bush, who is to visit Japan on February 18 and 19.
Poll results are expected to be announced this evening.
Analysts say incumbent Mayor Tateo Kishimoto, who supports the airport plan, looks likely to win, but his opponent, Yasuhiro Miyagi, played a key role in leading a majority of Nago residents to say no to the plan in a December 1997 referendum.
Mr Kishimoto is backed by three parties in Japan's ruling government coalition. Mr Miyagi is backed by opposition parties including the communists and Social Democrats.
Mr Kishimoto, 58, seeks a second four-year term by stressing his achievements in winning economic aid and other favours from the central government in exchange for the planned relocation of the US base from its Futenma air station in central Okinawa.
The central government has pledged to provide 100 billion yen (€800 million) in aid to fund development projects in Okinawa, Japan's poorest region, with an unemployment rate of nine per cent. The national jobless rate stands at 5.5 per cent.
The 42-year-old Mr Miyagi demanded that the plan to build the airport be scrapped.
"The referendum in 1997 showed the local residents opposing the relocation plan," Mr Miyagi said. "We don't need a new military base. Let's put an end to this debate once and for all."
Okinawa has less than one per cent of Japan's total land mass but is home to 26,000 of the 48,000 US military in the country, sparking local resentment, which flared after the 1995 rape of a Japanese schoolgirl by three US servicemen.
In June US Air Force Staff Sergeant Timothy Woodland, 24, was charged with raping a woman but pleaded not guilty, saying the sex was consensual. Court officials expect a ruling later this month.