Twenty-seven year old architecture student Nina Siahkali Moradi came within reach of a city council seat in Qazvin, Iran, but was disqualified for unknown reasons, Iran Wire reports.
Several outlets reported that she was disqualified for being too attractive.
Moradi is pursuing calligraphy and martial arts at Qazvin’s Azad University. Her campaign immediate drew attention for its vibrant posters, and her headquarters became a meeting place for local young people.
Several rivals protested Moradi’s headquarters and demanded an investigation. Local political establishment was apparently not happy with several other female campaigns.
She received 10,000 votes, enough to make her an alternate city councilor.
When the final results were announced, election authorities initially reported that Moradi had done well, but was just 700 votes shy of an outright City Council seat. The review board approved the results and the newly elected council held their first session in order to decide who would be the future mayor of Qazvin. After deliberations the Council elected its sitting member Ali Farazad as mayor, since he had received the most votes out of all the candidates running in the city council. With Farazad vacating his council seat and into the mayor’s office, Nina’s chances for becoming a City Council member increased. Her votes had placed her in the runner-up position for a Council seat, should one be vacated.
But after the mayoral announcement, Moradi said she hadn't heard anything from voting officials. "Almost 10,000 people voted for me and based on that I should be the first alternate member of the City Council," she told local media. As the first alternate, she would have filled Ali Farazad’s council seat who was now set to become the mayor of Qazvin.
Moradi says she still has not received word on why she was disqualified from a city council seat.