TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan opposition lawmakers survived a major recall election on Saturday, thwarting a bid to oust one-fifth of the island's parliamentarians - a move supporters had hoped would send a message to China but that opponents said was 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,

All recall votes against the 24 opposition party members from the Kuomintang (KMT) were rejected, according to Taiwan's Central Election Commission. It means the current makeup of Taiwan's parliament will remain the same.