Harper tweets praise for Orban, starts a Twitter fuss
Did message to Hungarian PM show ‘lack of judgment’?
OTTAWA — Former prime minister Stephen Harper raised eyebrows when he publicly offered his congratulations to Viktor Orban after the controversial political leader was re-elected prime minister of Hungary.
In a tweet late Monday, Harper congratulated Orban — whose election platform openly demonized migrants and asylum seekers in Europe as a security threat — for winning “a decisive fourth term” for his Fidesz party, which now holds a two-thirds majority in Hungary’s national legislature.
“Congratulations to Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Hungary’s Fidesz for winning a decisive fourth term! The IDU and I are looking forward to working with you,” Harper tweeted.
Harper was unanimously elected chair of the International Democratic Union (IDU) in February.
The centre-right organization is made up of more than 80 conservative political parties worldwide, including Fidesz..
Harper’s post prompted a number of Twitter users to point out Orban’s right-wing, populist political ideology and controversial political policies.
Frank Graves, president of EKOS Research Associates, said he was so surprised by the former Conservative prime minister’s tweet, he thought Harper’s account had been hacked.
“Mr. Harper is a pretty shrewd character and I thought it, frankly, showed a lack of judgment on his part,” Graves said Tuesday.
Harper did not respond directly to requests for comment, but Rachel Curran, a senior associate at Harper’s consulting company, Harper & Associates, said the tweet was simply a standard communication about the activity of a member party.
“He’s not pronouncing on the merits of Mr. Orban’s government or his political campaign, he’s simply congratulating him as a successful member of the IDU who recently received a massive democratic mandate from Hungarians,” Curran said.
Some people have been using the tweet to “get a shot at Mr. Harper,” she added.