Iranian City Councilwoman Deemed ‘Too Attractive’ to Take Her Post

International observers hoping with crossed fingers and toes that Iranian politics would be just a teensy more progressive thanks to the country’s newly-elected president, Hassan Rowhani, will be disappointed to learn that, surprise! this is so not the case.

At least not so far. According to a Wednesday report in the Times of London, a city councilor in Qazin (which, for all you history nerds, is notable for being the ancient capital of the Persian Empire) was prevented from taking up her post on the city council because all the dude-bros in charge of making sure public works projects get completed three-to-four months behind schedule (city councils are sooooo slooooowww) decided she was too attractive to take the post she was elected to.

Even though Nina Siakhali Moradi — a progressive, young engineer who ran on a platform that pushed for better women’s rights and the restoration of the city’s historical sites — hauled in enough votes during the June election to win a council seat in Qazvin, religious conservatives put up such a massive, rotten-egg stink that they overturned the election results because that’s exactly how representative government does not work.

From the website Al Arabiya:

Even with more than 10,000 votes in the June election, putting her 14th out of 163 candidates and winning her a council seat, the 27-year-old engineer and website designer had her political career cut short because she was deemed too attractive to take up the post.

“We don’t want a catwalk model on the council,” a senior official in Qazvin told local press.

Somewhere in Pawnee, Leslie Knope is balling her fists in rage and grinding her molars.