Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Organizers of the signature drive for a popular referendum on the construction of an Integrated Resort (IR) including a casino at Marina City, Wakayama, have stated that they are already well above the necessary threshold.
Needing about 6,200 resident signatures to make a referendum petition to the Wakayama City Council, the organizers say they’ve already collected over 8,000 signatures and expect many more before the December 5 deadline.
Attorney Yasushi Toyoda, one of the leaders of the referendum campaign, stated, “The prefectural government and the operator have made insufficient efforts to explain their IR initiative. The fact that so many signatures have been gathered shows that interest among the people is spreading.”
Once the signatures have been handed over the local government and verified, the city council must decide whether or not to go forward with the popular referendum.
In a similar case in Yokohama earlier this year, that city council rejected the referendum appeal, but later paid a political price when an anti-casino opposition candidate won the mayoral election. There is no indication yet what the Wakayama City Council might do.
The Wakayama IR initiative is already facing several major challenges, including uncertainty whether or not the Clairvest Neem Ventures-led consortium has sufficient financial backing to proceed with the construction.
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