Some 70 percent of participants voiced a negative position on the planned U.S. anti- missile base in a local referendum, Mayor of Tene, West Bohemia area, Julius Rusnak said on Saturday.

In the referendum, 139 out of 199 voters voiced agreement with the town hall taking all legal steps against the stationing of the U.S. radar base in the Brdy military area.

The voter turn-out was 71.3 percent of the eligible voters, Rusnak said.

The village of Tene is situated about 10 kilometers from the area where the radar base is possibly located.

There have been a number of local referenda on the plan, with all of them having rejected it.

The rejection came after most participants in another referendum held Saturday in the village of Hvozdany, Central Bohemia area, rejected the construction of the U.S. radar base.

The United States made a formal request in January to place a radar base in a military area southwest of Prague and 10 interceptor missiles in neighboring Poland as part of a planned global missile defense shield.

The first round of Czech-U.S. talks on the radar base was completed in May. The talks are to last several months. The United States expects the Czechs to give a clear final answer on the base after Jan. 1, 2008.

Most of the Czech public is still against the plan, while the government, headed by the Civic Democratic Party, advocates it.

Source: Xinhua