the fifth anniversary of the first sitting, and elections must be held within sixty days of the dissolution, unless dissolved prior to that date by their respective Heads of State on the advice of their Heads of Government. On 28 March 2013, the Negeri Sembilan Legislative Assembly became the first state assembly to dissolve automatically in Malaysian history. The state government would remain in place as a caretaker government and assembly members' constituency offices would remain open to serve the constituencies' needs. Following the dissolution of the Federal Parliament, state assemblies that had yet to be dissolved announced their dissolution in quick succession. Below are the dates of which the legislative assemblies of each state were dissolved: The Sarawak State Legislative Assembly was not dissolved as the last election had been held in 2011 and the term of the state assembly was due to end in 2016. Only parliamentary elections were held there. Electoral system The 222 members of the Dewan Rakyat, the dominant house of Parliament, were elected in single-member constituencies using first-past-the-post voting. In the 2013 general election, 11.05 million people voted which was approximately 85 percent of registered voters in total, and it was the highest rate that Malaysia had ever gotten in their electoral history. Malaysia does not practice compulsory voting and automatic voter registration. Although the age of majority in the country is 18, the voting age is 21. The election was conducted by the Election Commission of Malaysia. Political parties Malaysia is one of the most ethnically diverse countries, with a majority Malay population in addition to Chinese and Indian minorities, so the political parties are also diverse. Parties engage ethnic divisions, and conflicts over power play out between political parties that represent specific ethnic groups. According to the author Lim Hong Hai, writing in 2002, "over 80 per cent of Malaysia's population of over 23 million is found in Peninsular Malaysia, where the Malays form the largest ethnic group followed by the Chinese and Indians. All these ethnic groups are minorities in Sabah and Sarawak, where native ethnic groups other than the Malays make up about 60 per cent and 50 per cent of the population, respectively". The Federation of Malaya was composed of 11 states in the Malay Peninsula that gained independence from Britain in 1957, and two states from the Borneo Island, Sabah and Sarawak which became members of the Federation