Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called a snap general election for 29 November, days after parliament narrowly voted down his package of housing measures. Friday’s defeat confirmed that his left-wing coalition no longer commands a majority in congress.
The proposals were designed to stop tenants being evicted, improve the terms of their rental contracts and prevent investors from buying residential property. The conservative People’s Party (PP) and the far-right Vox voted against them. Parties on the right generally oppose direct intervention in the housing market and warn that it can backfire. Housing is the biggest concern for Spaniards, according to polls, and about 50 marches calling for stronger tenant protections took place on Saturday in cities including Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona.
Until recently Sánchez had insisted he would serve out the legislature and not go to the country until next summer, but his government has been under pressure on several fronts. Corruption cases have implicated former senior Socialist figures Santos Cerdán and José Luis Ábalos, and former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero faces accusations that he benefited financially from a government bailout of an airline, which he denies. Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, is due to stand trial on allegations of misuse of funds and influence peddling, which she and her husband strongly reject.
The government has also struggled to manage the situation in Ceuta, the Spanish exclave in North Africa, where more than 70,000 migrants arrived suddenly in July. Most have since gone back over the border to Morocco, but the episode has become a political and logistical headache for the prime minister and has prompted protests in cities across Spain. On Monday, Sánchez called on left-leaning voters to mobilise and give him a much bigger progressive majority.
Polls show the Socialists trailing the PP. On the campaign trail Sánchez can point out that his opponents on the right blocked the housing measures, an issue that looks more likely to energise voters on the left than his earlier clashes with US President Donald Trump and his criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza. Staying in power after the vote is still likely to be the hardest test of his career.
