The Majles is Iran's unicameral, directly elected parliament that approves legislation, oversees the budget, and confirms the president's cabinet nominees, but it operates under the supervision of the unelected Guardian Council, making it a classic AP example of a constrained legislature.
The Majles is Iran's national legislature. It's unicameral (one chamber), and its members are directly elected in single-member and multimember districts, sometimes requiring a second round of voting if no candidate wins enough support. Per the CED (PAU-3.E.1), the Majles holds real powers on paper. It approves legislation, oversees the budget, and confirms the president's nominees to the cabinet.
Here's the catch, and it's the part AP loves to test. Every candidate who wants to run for the Majles must first be vetted by the Guardian Council, an unelected body, and every law the Majles passes can be reviewed and rejected by that same council for violating Islamic law or the constitution. When the two bodies deadlock, the Expediency Council (chosen by the Supreme Leader) steps in to resolve the dispute. So the Majles is elected and active, but it is not independent. It also lacks formal political party structures, which makes Iranian elections candidate-centered rather than party-centered, unusual among the six course countries.
The Majles sits at the intersection of Unit 2 (Political Institutions) and Unit 4 (Party and Electoral Systems). For AP Comp Gov 2.6.A, you need to describe its structure and functions: unicameral, elected, approves legislation, oversees the budget, confirms cabinet nominees. For AP Comp Gov 2.7.A, it's the textbook case of constrained legislative power, since the Guardian Council vets its candidates and reviews its laws, and the Expediency Council settles their disputes. For AP Comp Gov 4.1.A and 4.2.A, the Majles shows how an authoritarian-leaning theocracy can hold direct, competitive-looking elections while controlling outcomes through candidate vetting. That tension, real elections inside an unelected supervisory structure, is exactly what makes Iran's regime hard to classify and why the Majles keeps showing up on the exam.
Keep studying AP Comparative Government Unit 2
Guardian Council (Units 2 & 4)
The Guardian Council is the gatekeeper on both ends of the Majles. It decides who can run before the election, and it can veto laws after they pass. You can't explain the Majles on an FRQ without it.
Expediency Council (Unit 2)
When the Majles and Guardian Council deadlock, the Expediency Council, an advisory body picked by the Supreme Leader, resolves the dispute. The CED lists this as a direct example of how legislative powers are constrained (PAU-3.F.1).
China's National People's Congress (Unit 2)
The NPC is the go-to comparison. Both are unicameral legislatures in authoritarian-leaning regimes, but Majles members are directly elected while NPC members are chosen indirectly through tiers of local and regional elections. Same structural label, very different selection.
Electoral competition (Unit 4)
Iran's elections are genuinely contested, with multiple vetted candidates and sometimes runoffs, but the vetting step caps how competitive they can really be. The Majles is your best evidence that 'holding elections' and 'having free elections' are not the same thing.
Multiple-choice questions usually test one of two things. First, can you correctly list what the Majles does (legislation, budget oversight, cabinet confirmation) versus what it can't do? Second, do you understand the constraint chain, where the Guardian Council vets candidates and reviews laws and the Expediency Council breaks deadlocks? Practice questions hit angles like how the Expediency Council demonstrates constrained legislative power and how the Majles illustrates challenges to legislative independence in hybrid regimes. The term appeared on the 2017 SAQ, and the 2023 comparative analysis question on executive selection and restrictions on executive power is a spot where the Majles earns you points, since it confirms cabinet nominees and shares oversight of the president. The biggest scoring mistake is describing the Majles as either powerless (wrong, it has real budget and confirmation powers) or fully independent (wrong, unelected bodies supervise it). The exam rewards the nuanced middle.
The Majles is elected; the Guardian Council is not. The Majles writes and passes laws; the Guardian Council reviews those laws and vets every Majles candidate before elections. Think of the Majles as the legislature and the Guardian Council as the unelected filter wrapped around it. They are not two chambers of one parliament, since Iran's legislature is unicameral.
The Majles is Iran's unicameral parliament, and its members are directly elected in single-member and multimember districts, sometimes with a second round of voting.
Its formal powers include approving legislation, overseeing the budget, and confirming the president's cabinet nominees.
The Guardian Council vets all Majles candidates before elections and can reject laws the Majles passes, which makes the Majles a constrained legislature, not an independent one.
The Expediency Council, selected by the Supreme Leader, resolves disputes between the Majles and the Guardian Council (PAU-3.F.1).
The Majles lacks formal political party structures, so elections center on individual candidates rather than parties.
On comparison questions, contrast the directly elected Majles with China's indirectly elected National People's Congress.
The Majles is Iran's unicameral, directly elected parliament. It approves legislation, oversees the budget, and confirms presidential cabinet nominees, but it operates under the supervision of the unelected Guardian Council.
It has real power, but it's constrained. The Majles genuinely passes laws, controls the budget, and confirms cabinet ministers, yet the Guardian Council vets who can run and can veto its legislation. The AP answer is 'real but constrained,' not 'powerless' or 'fully independent.'
The Majles is elected and makes laws; the Guardian Council is unelected and acts as a filter, vetting Majles candidates before elections and reviewing laws after passage. They're separate institutions, not two chambers of one legislature.
Members are directly elected in single-member and multimember districts, sometimes requiring a second round of voting. Every candidate must first be approved by the Guardian Council, and there are no formal political party structures organizing the races.
Both are unicameral legislatures in non-democratic regimes, but Majles members are directly elected by voters while NPC members are selected indirectly through layers of local and regional elections. The Majles is checked by the Guardian Council, while the NPC is controlled by the Communist Party and its Standing Committee.