When it comes to democracy, one should always decide the candidate to vote for based on their policies, political allegiances, trustworthiness, past record and other core traits displayed by most great leaders.
However, there are times when you simply cannot decide between the candidates on offer when standing at the polling booth. When all else fails, there is one time-honoured solution: vote based on the candidates' attractiveness.
Inspired by this most hallowed of democratic traditions, a couple named JD and Kate Dobson have put together a "scientific and unbiased ranking" of the 'hottest world leaders'.
EU leaders - how would you rate them? Image: Francois Mori / AP/Press Association Images
Tongue may firmly be in cheek in the very nature of this endeavour, but the list - which you can view here - has nonetheless been put together through careful, comprehensive analysis.
The authors polemically proclaim, "by ranking the world’s leaders by looks, we hope to heighten voter awareness... and shame the citizens of countries with unattractive leaders into rising up and staging coups or something." A noble goal if ever there was one.
Like all lists, the placements are likely to prove controversial.
Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, King of Bhutan, tops the list. The 35-year-old Druk Gyalpo (Dragon King) sneaks in ahead of Enrique Peña Nieto - President of Mexico - and Felipe VI of Spain. At number four is President of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner - deemed the hottest female head of state - while recent media darling Alexis Tsipras just about makes the top ten.
And Barack Obama? Number 13 - unlucky for some, but not a bad showing.
How do the Irish fare on this list? Out of the 197 listed leaders, Enda Kenny appears at number 69, so the jokes pretty much write themselves there. You need to drop down almost 100 places to find President Higgins - he's at number 164.
Scrolling down to the very end of the list, a well-known leader has the dubious honour of the bottom sport - yes, North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un is deemed the 'least hot' of the bunch. He's joined in the bottom three by the Prime Minister of Samoa and President of Azerbaijan - the latter just below Robert Mugabe.
"Scientific and unbiased ranking" is almost certainly an exaggeration, but do you agree with this nonetheless thorough, thoughtful and 100% (not) serious listing of the world's most powerful peoples' hotness?
