Taiwanese voters are deciding whether to remove about one-fifth of their lawmakers from the opposition Nationalist Party

Voters in Taiwan were casting ballots on Saturday on whether to recall one-fifth of the island's parliament, all from the major opposition party, in a move supporters hope will send a message to China and opponents say is an assault on democracy.

Taiwan's citizens started voting on Saturday morning in an unprecedented mass recall targeting 24 opposition lawmakers from a China-friendly party, with results expected later in the day. Voters across nine cities and counties went to the polls to decide whether to remove the 24 lawmakers from the China-friendly Chinese Nationalist Party,