Legislatures in communist states
The legislatures of communist states included: Due to their vanguard status, Communist parties were either the sole party represented in these legislatures, or held permanent majorities. In the latter case, the Communist parties were the dominant partners in popular fronts that were the sole organizations allowed to contest elections. The minor parties in these fronts were subservient to the Communist party, and had to accept the party's "leading role" as a condition of their continued existence. The legislatures were vested with great lawmaking powers on paper, and in most cases all other government institutions were  nominally subordinated to them. In practice, the doctrine of democratic centralism resulted in the legislatures being rubber stamps which held very little real power. They did little more than give legal sanction to decisions already made at the highest levels of the Communist parties. Legislative sessions were infrequent, usually only once or twice a year, and consequently legislative power was often vested in some form of standing committee elected by the legislature, usually titled presidium or state council, between its sessions.