After the "scandal" involving a goldfish named Princeska (Princess) and the holiday card from Slovenian seaside, picturing the president of Slovenia with a wide grin on his face and a temporary dolphin tattoo on his shoulder ((#president #pahor #summer #temptattoo), Pahor has now taken the internet by storm with a photo of him leaning on the staircase railing in the presidential palace in Egypt with a sad expression on his face. The photo is described with two hashtags, #homesick and #homesweethome.

Pahor travelled to Cairo earlier this week to pay his first presidential visit to Egypt, where he had a meeting with Egyptian PM Sherif Ismail and Ali Abdel Aal, the speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives. However, it seems that despite the short, 2-day visit, Pahor had a bout of homesickness, which he depicted quite vividly to his followers.

"Boruting"
And the web responded. There hasn’t been that many parody photos, gifs and jokes ever since a lynx escaped from Ljubljana ZOO. The latter immediately got his own Twitter account under the profile name Ris Rožnik and regularly updated the public with his whereabouts as well as alimentary conditions in the vicinity of Rožnik Hill, where the zoo is located.

A page titled “Boruting” appeared on Facebook (alluding to web phenome such as owling and planking), putting together all imitations of Pahor’s leaning on the railing in Cairo. The page has gathered more than 1,300 likes so far and Facebook users keep sending original and witty variations on the theme of melancholy slanting – some have replaced the railing by hilltops, others are propped against furniture.

One thing is certain – presidential or not, Borut Pahor knows how to draw attention to himself.

K. S., MMC; translated by K. Z.