Majlis of Iran

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Majlis of Iran is located in Baharestan district in Tehran

The Majlis of Iran (Persian:مجلس, lit. "assembly"), is a legislative body of Iran. The Majlis currently has 290 representatives, changed from the previous 270 seats since the February 18, 2000 election. The official name for the body means Islamic Consultative Assembly.

The current speaker of Majlis is Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, with first deputy speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar and second deputy speaker Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard. The presiding board member is Mousa Qorbani.

Members of the First Majlis (October 7, 1906 — June 23, 1908).

1 Under the Shahs
2 Islamic Republic
3 See also
4 Notes and references
5 External links

[edit] Under the Shahs

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The original Majlis building as it appeared in the winter of 1956.

See also: Iranian Constitutional Revolution

Before the Islamic Revolution, Majlis was also the name of the lower house of the Iranian Legislature from 1906 to 1979, the upper house being the Senate.

It was created by the Iran Constitution of 1906 and first convened on 1906-10-06 (17 Sha'ban 1324 AH^[1]), soon gaining power under the rule of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Noteworthy bills passed by the Majlis under Pahlavi include the Oil Nationalization Bill (March 15, 1951) and the Family Protection Law (1967), which gave women many basic rights such as custody of children in case of divorce. After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Senate was abolished and in 1989 revision of the constitution, the National Consultative Assembly (مجلس شورای ملی) became the Islamic Consultative Assembly (مجلس شورای اسلامی). The last session of the Pahlavi-era Majlis, during its twenty-first round, was held on 1979-02-07 (18 Bahman 1357 AP^[1]).

Women were not allowed to vote or be elected to the Majlis until 1963, as part of reforms under Shah's "White Revolution". The reforms were regarded as dangerous, Westernizing trends by traditionalists, especially by the powerful Shia religious leaders, including Ayatollah Khomeini. The events led to a revolt on June 5, 1963 and the exile of Khomeini to Iraq. The twenty-first National Consultative Assembly, which included female representatives, opened on October 6, 1963. After the Islamic revolution, women continued to have the same voting rights.

Even though the Majlis has been known to voice opposition to both the Pahlavis and Islamic Republic policies, it is not as powerful as the legislative bodies in, for example, the United States.

[edit] Islamic Republic

After the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian legislature became unicameral.

From 1979, the Majlis had convened at the building that used to house the Iranian Senate, which is on Imam Khomeini Boulevard in central Tehran. A new building was built for the Assembly near Baharestan Square in central Tehran, near the old Majlis building that was used from 1906 to 1979. The move was considered and approved on October 9, 2001. Some Majlis representatives of the time voted against moving there, protesting the very high expenses. But the move didn't happen during the sixth Islamic Assembly, because of technical problems, including some related to the audio system.

The move was reconsidered by the representatives in the seventh Islamic Assembly, in a private session on November 2, 2004, with the majority fraction divided over the issue and Emad Afrough, a conservative representative, calling the new building "the Green Palace of Mu'awiyah" (hinting that it was too luxurious). But the move was finally approved with a strong majority. The first session in new building was held on November 16, 2004.

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**Summary of the 20 February and 7 May 2004 **Majlis of Iran** election results**
Orientiation of candidates	Seats	% of Seats
Conservatives/Fundamentalist	156	54%
Reformists	39	13%
Independents	31	11%
Elected in second round	59	20%
Armenians recognized minority religion	2
Chaldean and Assyrian Catholic recognized minority religion	1
Jewish recognized minority religion	1
Zoroastrian recognized minority religion	1
Sufi Muslim/Dervish unrecognized minority religion	0
Total (Turnout around 50 %)	290
Source: IPU