Taiwanese voters rejected a bid to oust about one-fifth of their lawmakers, all from the opposition Nationalist Party, in a recall election Saturday, dampening hopes for the ruling party to flip the balance of power in the self-ruled island’s legislature.

BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Sunday said that the failure of a recall vote targeting opposition lawmakers in Taiwan's local legislature shows that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)'s political manipulation runs against the will of the people.

On July 26, Taiwan will set a new record for a developed democracy, holding recall referendums for 24 opposition legislators as well as one opposition mayor. This is nothing to be proud of; the mass recalls of more than a fifth of Taiwan’s legislature are the latest sign of a political crisis that has largely gone unnoticed internationally.