Spain's Sánchez calls snap general election for 29 November after housing defeat

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday, 5 October, a snap general election for 29 November, after parliament rejected housing relief measures proposed by his minority government, Al Jazeera, Reuters and RTVE reported.

Why now

“We need to renew people’s support,” Sánchez said in a televised address, adding that he wanted to win “a much larger progressive majority in Parliament.” He acknowledged mistakes and unmet campaign promises. Housing affordability has been a top concern for years: according to the property site Idealista, average rents have almost doubled over the past decade. Protests spread after the televised eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid last month, and the government said more than 70,000 people joined a housing march in the capital on Saturday.

The opposition’s pitch

Opinion polls suggest a coalition led by the conservative People’s Party (PP), with support from the far-right Vox, is the most likely result, Al Jazeera reported; that would be the first time since Franco’s death that a far-right party entered Spain’s central government. PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo asked voters whether they wanted “four more years of what we’ve been living through” or to “give change a chance.”

Sánchez has never won an outright majority and has governed for eight years through fragile coalitions and alliances. Madrid’s stock market rose 0.4% on Monday despite the announcement, Reuters reported.