For most of his life, Deng Pu didn't see himself as an activist – but that changed last year.

Furious at what he felt was undemocratic behaviour by Taiwan's lawmakers and overt Chinese influence in parliament, he joined thousands of others in a massive street protest. Two months ago, he signed up with a campaign group.

He has never done these things before. "Previous social movements were important, but to be honest they didn't make me this angry," the 39-year-old photographer told the BBC. "We are citizens... and we need to make sure our society sticks to its democratic systems and spirit."

Now, that anger is reaching a turning point. On Saturday Taiwan will hold a vote to decide whether to kick out more than two dozen lawmakers accused of being too close to China, in what has been called "dabamian", or the Great Recall.

The unprecedented vote may alter the balance of political power in Taiwan. But already it has deepened political divisions, with both sides of the debate claiming to be the saviour of Taiwan's sacred democracy.

It began with elections in January 2024, when voters chose the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) William Lai as their president, but gave the opposition the dominant presence in the parliamentary Legislative Yuan.

In the following months, the main opposition party Kuomintang worked together with the smaller Taiwan People's Party and independents to block DPP bills and pass controversial pieces of legislation. This included limiting the constitutional court's powers, cutting the government's budget, and raising the threshold for holding recall votes.

These moves provoked significant outrage among some Taiwanese, who saw them as stymying the DPP government while strengthening the opposition's parliamentary power.

In May 2024, thousands began holding protests in what became known as the Bluebird movement, named partially after the Taipei street where many had gathered.

Many in the movement believe the opposition, led by the Kuomintang which is known for its relatively friendlier position on China, is being influenced by Beijing and secretly pushing China's agenda in Taiwan's legislature.

The party has denied this, but suspicion grew when a group of Kuomintang lawmakers visited China last year and were welcomed by top-ranking Chinese Communist Party official Wang Huning.

Civic groups in the Bluebird movement launched petitions to oust various Kuomintang lawmakers, while Kuomintang supporters retaliated by doing the same to some DPP lawmakers.

So far, petitions for 31 lawmakers' seats have received enough preliminary support to proceed with a final recall vote. All these seats are held by the Kuomintang - and if enough are successfully recalled, it could mean the DPP eventually gains the majority in the legislature.

While Taiwan has held recall votes before, it has never seen so many within such a short space of time.

On Saturday, citizens in 24 districts will vote on a simple yes or no question: whether they agree to boot out their legislator. Another round of voting will be held in August for the remaining recall cases.

In each district, if a majority of votes approve the recall and exceed 25% of registered voters, the seat will be vacated and a by-election must be held within three months.

This means that voter turnout is crucial for the Great Recall's success - and it is the reason why civic groups have been relentlessly flooding social media and pounding the streets canvassing for votes.

On a recent weekday night, Deng Pu and several members of his civic group stood outside a Taipei subway station. Some held up banners and chanted slogans, while others distributed paper fans and tissue packets emblazoned with the words "Let's go out together to vote" and "Say yes to the recall".

Mr Deng acknowledged that with several of the recall votes taking place in Kuomintang strongholds, even if they did succeed, the party could be re-elected in by-elections.

Even so, the Great Recall would still be worth it, he insisted, as it was a way to "correct our democracy".

Whatever the result may be, it would "send a strong signal to all the political parties you must respect the latest wishes of Taiwan's citizens."

Mr Deng acknowledged that many in the Bluebird movement were DPP supporters, but denied that the civic groups were funded by the party – a theory heavily pushed by the opposition.

"We don't care whether DPP wins the by-elections. What's more urgent to us is that we hope to have a normal parliament, one that is not close to China and the Chinese Communist Party."

He also took issue with what he saw as a weak response from the DPP, saying: "From the first recall petition till now, the civic groups have been telling the DPP that the citizens are here and there are many of us... We are strongly calling on the DPP to join us."

The DPP had initially sought to distance itself from the Great Recall. But eventually it showed its support, with Lai stressing that the DPP "must align with the power of the people" and ordering party officials to assist pro-recall groups to "protect the nation".

This has inevitably fueled the opposition's accusation that the DPP has secretly engineered the Great Recall and Bluebird movement, pointing to the fact that the DPP could reap the most political gain.

It not only stands a chance of winning a permanent majority in the legislature. Even if the Kuomintang eventually wins in the by-elections, the DPP would have held the majority for a few weeks, giving it enough time to push through crucial laws.

Anti-recall protests organised by the Kuomintang and other opposition parties have drawn thousands. At one such rally in the New Taipei district of Banqiao last weekend, supporters showed up waving banners and chanting "No to the vote" while crossing their arms.

As they took to the stage, speaker after speaker condemned the Great Recall while characterising William Lai as a fascist and authoritarian traitor of Taiwan's democracy.

Large screens played videos of Lai doctored to make him look like Adolf Hitler with the words "Fuhrer Lai", as well as the slogan "Green Terror" – a reference to the DPP's party colour and the White Terror, a period of authoritarian rule and political repression under the Kuomintang.

The rhetoric echoed that of Beijing, which has waded into the debate while watching from afar. Its Taiwan Affairs Office has accused Lai of "engaging in dictatorship under the guise of democracy" and "using every means possible to suppress the opposition".

"The recall lawmakers were chosen by the majority of voters in their districts. If they are not good enough, they can be voted out in the next election," said rally attendee Mu Zili. "Why should we be using this evil way of getting rid of them?"

The 68-year-old night shift worker insisted that the lawmakers were being targeted simply because they belonged to the Kuomintang, and that the Bluebird activists were working for the DPP.

"You can't have one party take down the other one in one big recall, this is not democratic," Ms Mu said.

"I side with blue," she added, referring to the Kuomintang's party colour. "But I don't oppose green. I'm here not because I support the Kuomintang, but to protect democracy."

But there are also many Taiwanese who are on the fence.

Watching the anti-recall rally from the sidelines was Banqiao resident Peggy Lin. Like several other bystanders the BBC spoke to, she was bewildered by the fuss over the Great Recall.

"I don't know what it's about really, I haven't followed the debate at all… so I don't have an opinion," said the 43-year-old childcare worker.

"I will vote after I read more into it and decide based on how I feel on that day about it."

Analysts say that regardless of the outcome, the Great Recall will leave a lasting impact on Taiwan's polarised society.

The political fighting has gotten nasty at times. Legislators have brawled in parliament over the political deadlock, while activists have faced doxxing and abuse. Mr Deng told the BBC that while out canvassing, he and his team mates had been assaulted or pushed around by residents opposing the vote.

The vote has also not gone without scandal: officials have discovered numerous forged signatures, many of deceased voters, in recall petitions against both DPP and Kuomintang lawmakers.

The vote "will cement the notion of four year terms as not a given but as conditional on performance and subject to periodic reviews. Political polarisation will likely get worse before it gets better," said Wen-ti Sung, a political scientist with the Australian National University's Taiwan Studies programme.

But the Great Recall is also "creating space for renewed political activism", especially for DPP supporters, added Dr Sung, which he characterised as an overall boon to the resiliency of Taiwan's civil society.

Ian Chong, a non-resident scholar with Carnegie China, said if many of the recall votes succeed, "one signal it would send to politicians in Taiwan is that they should be careful with how far they push the line in public sentiment… they can't stray too far as there would be consequences".

"But if it fizzles out, then it emboldens politicians to do what they want," he noted.

"It will intensify the polarisation… and it would be easy for politicians to write off the Great Recall as yet another civil society movement that doesn't get enough momentum beyond a certain part of the population."

If there was a close but not conclusive result overall, however, it may mean "the Kuomintang and DPP will have to ultimately seek compromise and work together".

This, added Dr Chong, "may not be a bad thing for Taiwan".

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Who are the key players in Taiwan’s ‘great recall’ vote?

Unprecedented polls are underway in Taiwan as the island votes to decide whether to oust 24 of its parliament lawmakers, who were only elected into office eighteen months ago.

Voters are queuing up in schools, temples, and community centres to cast their ballots on whether to oust about one-fifth of their lawmakers, all from the opposition Nationalist Party, in what is being called the “Great Recall Movement” that could reshape the power balance in the island.

If more than six lawmakers are recalled, it could shift the balance of power in the parliament in favour of Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te, who wants Taiwan to forge a future separate from China, against an opposition largely seen as favouring close ties with Beijing.

The poll sees close competition between Taiwan’s major political parties, the DPP, the KMT, and their allies.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)

Taiwan’s independence-leaning ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won last year's presidential election for an unprecedented third term over a platform that strongly rejected China’s territorial claims over Taiwan. The party came to power by winning 40 per cent of the votes, even though its share of the vote had decreased compared to the previous election.

Soon after coming to power, Mr Lai, 64, a former doctor who had served as vice-president to Tsai Ing-wen since 2020, said Taiwan would “continue to walk side by side with democracies around the world”.

The DPP-led government has tried to highlight the “Taiwan identity” as something unique and different from that of China. However, many Taiwanese citizens have expressed concern that this approach could continue to put the island under threat from Beijing, which has upped its military exercises around Taiwan in recent years.

Kuomintang (KMT)

Although the DPP won the presidential elections, it was a coalition led by the China-friendly Nationalists, or Kuomintang (KMT), that got enough seats to form a majority bloc in the island’s parliament.

The KMT has been accused by the ruling party of blocking key legislation, especially the defence budget, and of passing legislative changes favouring China, which considers Taiwan a part of its own territory.

It has succeeded in passing three controversial bills and budget cuts to the 2025 national budget, which together were seen as strengthening the powers of parliament at the cost of the executive.

All the lawmakers currently facing recall belong to the KMT, the largest party in the legislature with 52 seats.

With the election commission scheduling recall polls for seven more KMT legislators on 23 August, nearly one-third of all legislative constituencies face the vote, mostly concentrated in the north and urban regions.

Taiwan People’s Party (TPP)

The TPP is a smaller party and a relative newcomer in the race, gathering strong support among young people disillusioned by the ruling and main opposition parties.

It controls eight of the Taiwanese parliament’s 113 seats and works in a coalition with the KMT to wield control over the legislature.

Beijing

The relations between Taiwan and mainland China have been central to the recall mandate.

Many supporters of the recall movement point to close ties between some KMT officials and leaders in mainland China.

In April, some KMT legislators travelled to the mainland and met with Beijing’s chief theoretician Wang Huning, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, raising concerns that KMT leaders could be taking orders from Beijing.

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Taiwanese voters reject bid to oust opposition lawmakers in unprecedented recall election

Preliminary results of Taiwan’s unprecedented polls reveal voters have rejected the bid to oust about one-fifth of its lawmakers with alleged close ties with Beijing.

Early trends after one hour of poll counting point to a lead in favour of most of the 24 lawmakers from the opposition Nationalist Party, KMT, Taiwan News reported.

Thousands turned out to cast their votes in ballots across several schools, community centres and temples in Taiwan.

The independence-leaning ruling Democratic Progressive Party won last year's presidential election, but the China-friendly Nationalists, also known as the KMT, and the smaller Taiwan People's Party have enough seats to form a majority bloc.

Those who supported removing the 24 lawmakers were angry that the KMT and its allies blocked key legislation, especially the defence budget, and passed controversial changes that are seen as diminishing the power of the executive and favouring China, which considers the island its territory.

The opposition parties' actions sparked concerns among some Taiwanese about the island's democratic integrity and its ability to deter Chinese military threats, leading to the recall campaigns. The scale of the recall elections is unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on 23 August.

But the KMT alleged the ruling party was resorting to political retaliation after it lost the legislative majority, saying the recalls were undermining and challenging Taiwan's democratic system. The KMT holds 52 seats, while the ruling DPP holds 51 seats. For the DPP to secure a legislative majority, at least six KMT lawmakers would need to be ousted, and the ruling party would need to win all by-elections, which would need to be held within three months following the announcement of results.

For a recall, more than a quarter of eligible voters in the electoral district must have voted in favour of the recall, with the total number of supporters exceeding those against.

The poll closed at 4 pm. local time.

With vote counting still underway, the overall trend is against the recall.

One closely fought campaign centred on KMT Caucus Whip Fu Kun-Chi, who served as Hualien County chief before being elected to the Taiwanese parliament. Early trends suggest he would survive the recall.

The elections have intensified tensions between those backing the status quo and those favouring improved ties with Beijing. Critics accuse China-friendly politicians of compromising Taiwan and take issue with their meetings with mainland Chinese politicians. But these Taiwanese politicians claim their connections are vital for dialogue given Beijing's refusal to interact with the DPP.

When asked about the recall election, China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian said in June that since the administration of Taiwan president Lai Ching-te came into power, it has sought to achieve "one-party dominance" and practiced "dictatorship" under the guise of "democracy", state broadcaster CCTV reported. She was quoted as saying that Mr Lai's government has spared no effort in suppressing opposition parties and those who supported the development of cross-strait relations.

Taiwan's mainland affairs council said Wednesday that the Chinese authorities and state media had tried to blatantly interfere with the vote.