Yokohama IR likely to go to referendum

Campaigners gave gained enough signatures to force a vote on the proposals.

Japan.- Yokohama Prefecture will have to call a community referendum to decide whether it should bid to host an integrated casino resort.

The “Yokohama Citizens’ Group to Decide on a Casino” has collected more than twice the 62,500 signatures needed to force a referendum on the IR.

The group has already collected 156,000 signatures. It will still need to have them validated.

If at least 62,500 are validated, Mayor Fumiko Hayashi will submit a referendum ordinance proposal to the city council.

It is unclear whether the ordinance will be adopted because the city council is controlled by the Liberal Democratic Party, which is in favour of the IR bid, but Mayor Hayashi has indicated that she will stop the project if the referendum demonstrates that a majority of residents are in opposition.