Polls have opened in Taiwan’s high-stakes recall election that could give President William William Lai Ching-te’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) control of parliament, and send what his supporters describe as a strong rebuke to China.

Saturday’s polls on whether to recall one-fifth of the island’s parliament, all from the major Kuomintang (KMT) opposition party, have been denounced by critics as an assault on democracy. But Taiwan’s government has also accused China of “unprecedented” interference in the democratic process of the island.

Polling stations opened at 8am local time (00:00 GMT) with 24 Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers facing potential recall. A recall election for an additional seven KMT lawmakers will be held on August 23.

President Lai’s DPP needs to unseat a minimum of 12 KMT lawmakers to gain temporary control of parliament, with risk analysis firm Eurasia Group giving that outcome “a 60 percent probability”.

Lai’s party would then need to flip six seats in by-elections – that will follow the recall vote – later this year to cement its dominance in Taiwan’s 113-seat parliament.

The DPP and KMT held rain-soaked rallies in the days leading up to the critical vote, which has dominated Taiwanese politics, newspaper headlines and social media feeds for months.

While Lai won last year’s presidential election, the DPP lost its legislative majority. That has allowed the opposition to flex its legislative muscles since then to pass laws the government has opposed and impose government budget cuts, complicating efforts to boost defence spending, in particular.

Taiwan has been trying to increase its military budget amid threats from China, which considers the island part of its territory.

The domestic political drama comes as China ramps up a military and diplomatic pressure campaign against Taiwan to assert its territorial claims over the island, which Lai and his government reject.

Lai has offered talks with China many times but has been rebuffed by Beijing, which has called him a “separatist”.

The heated recall campaign was closely watched by China, whose Taiwan Affairs Office and Chinese state media have repeatedly commented on and even used the KMT’s talking points to lambaste Lai.

Taipei said this week that Beijing was “clearly” trying to interfere in the vote, and it was up to the Taiwanese people to decide who should be removed or stay in office.

Those supporting the recall vote have accused the KMT of selling out Taiwan by sending lawmakers to China, not supporting defence spending and bringing chaos to parliament.

The KMT, which is more conciliatory to China, rejects those accusations and has denounced Lai’s “dictatorship” and “green terror” – referring to the DPP’s party colour.

Polls close at 4pm local time (08:00 GMT) and results should become clear later in the evening.