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

The vote has coincided with efforts by Beijing to raise its military and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan. China has for decades claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and has never renounced the possible use of force to annex the self-governing island and unify it with the Chinese mainland.

Taiwanese voters headed to the polls Saturday in a historic recall election that could reshape the islands political landscape. The unprecedented vote seeks to remove 24 lawmakers from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT),