 A candidate, Masahide Ōta, opposing the base's construction won with 52% of the vote.However, the Japanese government successfully sued the new Governor Ōta, and transferred the power over Okinawan land leases to the Prime Minister, ignored the 1997 Nago City citizens' referendum (which rejected the new base), stopped communication with the local government, and suspended economic support until Okinawans elected the Liberal Democratic Party's new governor Keiichi Inamine (1998–2006).The construction plans moved slowly, and the protesters got more attention when a U.S. helicopter crashed into a classroom building of Okinawa International University.