Spain's Sánchez Calls Snap Election for Nov. 29 After Housing Decrees Fail
The prime minister says he wants a "much broader, progressive majority" as his Socialists trail in the polls and anger over evictions grows.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called an early general election for November 29 on Monday, a gamble that comes as his Socialist Party trails in opinion polls and public fury over housing costs fills the streets.
In a televised address, Sánchez said his goal was "to secure a much broader, progressive majority in parliament." He added: "To do more, we need to renew and broaden the support of the people."
The decision followed a parliamentary defeat last week. Right-wing opposition parties joined forces to block two emergency decrees that contained measures to reduce evictions and curb real estate speculation. The setback left Sánchez without a way to deliver on housing, the issue dominating Spanish politics.
Anger has been building since the televised eviction last month of Maria del Carmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman in Madrid. The images set off protests in cities across Spain, with demonstrators demanding action on rents and home prices.
The political risk is considerable. Polls show the conservative People's Party, which could govern with support from the far-right Vox party, as the most likely winner. Such a result would bring an extreme-right party into Spain's national government for the first time since democracy returned after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.
Sánchez has led Spain since 2018 and has won three consecutive terms without ever winning an outright majority, relying on fragile coalitions that stretch across the political spectrum. Those alliances have repeatedly frayed in parliament, where he has struggled to pass budgets and major legislation.
CNBC called him "Trump's nemesis in Europe," a reference to his public clashes with the American president over spending on defense and other issues. A defeat in November would remove one of the European Union's most prominent center-left leaders.
The campaign will run less than eight weeks. Sánchez's strategy appears to be to turn the vote into a referendum on housing and on whether the right should be allowed to block relief for tenants. The opposition will argue that his government has failed to fix the housing shortage after years in power and that it cannot govern without legislative support.
Whichever side prevails, the next government will inherit the same crisis: rents and home prices that have outpaced wages in Spanish cities, and a public that is clearly unwilling to wait.
A PP-led government with Vox backing would be a historic shift. Sánchez's wager is that the threat of such an outcome, together with anger at the parties that blocked the housing decrees, will bring left-leaning voters back to the polls.
The campaign will also test whether the right can win on a message of blocking the government rather than offering its own housing plan. Both sides now have under two months to make their case.
