Western Australia has a bicameral parliament consisting of the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and the Legislative Council (upper house). On 11 November 2011 the Western Australian Parliament passed the Electoral and Constitution Amendment Act 2011 (WA)  which established a fixed election date: elections are held on the second Saturday in March every four years. The previous election was held on 9 March 2013. The Legislative Assembly is comprised of representatives from 59 single member districts. The Legislative Council is comprised of 36 representatives: six elected from each of six regions on a proportional representation basis. Parliament was prorogued, and the Legislative Assembly dissolved, by the Governor on 30 January 2017. The writs were issued on 1 February for an election on Saturday 11 March. Sixteen parties contested the election compared to the seven which ran in 2013.