Spanish Prime Minister (PM) Pedro Sánchez has called early general election for November 29 after his minority government suffered parliamentary defeats over measures aimed at addressing the country’s housing crisis.
Sánchez announced the snap election on Monday after parliament rejected two decree laws designed to strengthen protections for tenants in the rental market.
The decision followed nationwide protests over housing, including demonstrations in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona on Saturday calling for greater protection for renters.
The eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her Madrid home on September 23 has become a symbol of the housing crisis. A legal loophole allowed her landlord to increase her rent from €500 to €2,650 before it was later reduced to €1,650, still €300 more than her monthly pension.
Abascal, who had lived in the apartment for more than 70 years, was removed on a stretcher and later admitted to hospital.
In a televised address, Sánchez said that he needed “a broader progressive majority” to push through reforms and “overcome the resistance of the elites.”
“We have made mistakes and have not achieved everything we had set out to do,” Sánchez said, adding that there were still “a lot of problems to solve, particularly in the areas of inequality, of public services and access to housing.”
Sánchez’s coalition government consists of his Socialist Party and junior partner Sumar but does not hold a majority in parliament.
Spain was not due to hold its next general election until 2027. Sánchez has served as prime minister since June 2018, while his Socialist Party finished second in the 2023 election.
The conservative People’s Party won the most seats in that election but failed to secure a majority. Sánchez remained in power after reaching agreements with left-wing parties and securing support from Catalan and Basque nationalist and pro-independence groups.
Most opinion polls indicate that the People’s Party is likely to emerge as the largest party in the upcoming election, although it may need support from the hard-right Vox party to form a government.
People’s Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo welcomed the announcement, saying: “At last, Spaniards will be able to decide.”
Feijóo said that the election would not be “just another election” but a choice between “decline or change, lies or change, incompetence or change, division or change, corruption or change.”
Sánchez has also faced growing political pressure over corruption allegations involving members of his party and his family.
His wife Begoña Gómez was charged with corruption in April following a two-year investigation. She denies the allegations, while Sánchez has dismissed the case as an attempt by the right to undermine his coalition.
Police raided the Socialist Party’s Madrid headquarters in May as part of an investigation into allegations that an operative was paid to carry out a misinformation campaign. The party denied the allegations.
In June, Sánchez’s former transport minister José Luis Ábalos was jailed for 24 years after being found guilty of involvement in a network that received kickbacks from the sale of face masks during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sánchez also faced scrutiny over his government’s handling of the Ceuta migration crisis after tens of thousands of people entered the Spanish territory from Morocco without authorisation during the summer.
