BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — A leftist Argentine filmmaker who has condemned Israel finished second in Buenos Aires legislative elections.
Results from Sunday’s elections for congressional senators and deputies showed an anti-government sentiment, in which the Frente para la Victoria party of President Cristina Kirchner and her husband, former president Nestor Kirchner, lost its majority.
Filmmaker Fernando Pino Solanas, leader of the Proyecto Sur party, garnered 24 percent of the vote in Buenos Aires city, easily finishing second. Solanas trailed the governing Pro movement by 7 percentage points.
Solanas has condemned Israel on several occasions and was one of several Argentine public figures who signed a letter of support to a visit to Iran by Argentine activists in 2007.
“Solanas’ solidarity with Iran is something to remember,” Simon Wiesenthal Center local representative Sergio Widder, told JTA.
Before Argentine elections, the DAIA Jewish political umbrella institution invites politicians for a formal visit. While the other candidates visited DAIA in recent weeks, a Solanas secretary called to cancel his meeting, DAIA President Aldo Donzis told JTA.
Solanas denied accusations contained in recent chain e-mails circulated around Argentina that he was close to Iran and critical of Israel.
