Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has once again staked his political future on a snap general election that he announced three days after rightwing parties torpedoed the emergency legislation his minority government had put forward in response to growing public anger over the country’s housing crisis.
Sánchez, who has been in office since ۲۰۱۸, used a televised address to communicate his decision, which had been widely expected. The next general election had been due before the end of next summer.
Announcing on Monday morning that an early general election would be held on ۲۹ November, the prime minister defended his government’s social, environmental and humanitarian record – and admitted it had made mistakes, but said it was time to let the Spanish people have their say.
“It’s up to you now,” he said. “A glance at the horizon shows us that the world is in a very complex era of transformation and transition. It’s a time of great tension, of climate emergency, and of social and technological changes – including highly disruptive advances in artificial intelligence. It is, therefore, a time of great dangers, but also – if we know how to seize the moment – of great opportunities. You, the Spanish people, must decide what role you wish to play in this era, and what role you want Spain to play as well.”
Sánchez’s gamble is being seen as a pragmatic move from a seasoned political risk-taker. His minority coalition government with the small, leftwing Sumar alliance has faced a turbulent time in parliament since the prime minister secured his return to office by striking a controversial deal with Catalan pro-independence parties in the aftermath of the inconclusive snap general election he called three years ago.
Unable to pass a budget since ۲۰۲۳, with his party and inner circle beset by corruption allegations and his government facing enduring pressure over its handling of the mass crossing into Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta over the summer, he appears to have decided another snap vote is his best chance of survival.
Sánchez repeated his familiar assertion in Monday’s address that the choice was between his progressive government and a Spanish right that would curtail freedoms and turn back the clock on hard-won advances.
“You, the men and women of Spain, must decide whether you want to join the far-right wave that rolls back progress wherever it governs, or to ensure that Spain remains a bastion of openness, social justice, and environmental responsibility,” he said.
“You must decide whether you want our country to move backwards or continue moving forwards, and whether you prefer a government that works for the interests of the majority of society.”
The government’s efforts to tackle the housing crisis were set out in two decrees that contained a range of measures – from a ban on evictions until ۲۰۳۰ to the regulation of temporary lettings and lettings by room – but were voted down in congress on Friday by the conservative People’s party (PP), the far-right Vox party, and the rightwing Catalan pro-independence party Junts.
The PP, which is leading the polls but which may need to rely on Vox’s support to form a national government, said it believed construction, and not regulation, was the best way to tackle the crisis.
The votes were met with an angry response from the crowds who had gathered outside congress, eliciting boos and cries of “Shame” and “Your profits, our misery”.
The PP welcomed news of the snap election. “At last, the Spanish people will decide,” said the party’s leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. “This isn’t an election like previous ones. This is about Spain beating Sánchez.”
Vox, which already governs with the PP in four Spanish regions, hailed the decision. The party’s leader, Santiago Abascal, said Vox would fight to ensure that Spaniards “are not discriminated against in their own homeland” when it came to housing and benefits. He also said his party would focus on “remigration” in order to reverse what he called “the migrant invasion”.
Long-brewing fury over the high cost of renting and the precarious nature of many tenancies exploded late last month following the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, an ۸۷-year-old woman who was removed from the home in Madrid where she had lived for ۷۰ years. Abascal said she could not possibly afford the ۲۳۰% rent hike demanded by the investment fund that bought her apartment.
Her plight prompted tens of thousands of people to take to the streets to protest, and saw a huge tent camp reminiscent of the ۲۰۱۱ indignados movement spring up in Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol square.
Over the weekend, large demonstrations were held across the country as protesters stepped up their demands for urgent action on the housing crisis. Authorities said ۷۰,۰۰۰ people had taken part in a protest in Madrid on Saturday, while organisers put the figure at ۵۰۰,۰۰۰.
Sánchez will be hoping that the focus on housing, and the right’s rejection of his government’s plans to address the crisis, will mobilise voters.
The housing issue has served to deflect attention from the government’s much-criticised handling of the continuing crisis in Ceuta, which was sparked when about ۷۰,۰۰۰ people crossed into the territory from neighbouring Morocco in the space of ۴۸ hours.
Members of Sánchez’s administration, his party and his inner circle have also been battling a series of corruption allegations over the past two years.
In July this year, the prime minister’s brother, David Sánchez, was banned from holding public office for nine years after being found guilty of administrative misconduct relating to his hiring by a socialist-led council in the south-western region of Extremadura.
Meanwhile, Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gomez, is due to face trial after a judge charged her with embezzlement, influence peddling, corruption in business dealings and misappropriation of funds at the end of a two-year investigation.
David Sánchez and Begoña Gómez have both denied any wrongdoing, and the prime minister has previously accused his political and media enemies of launching a “harassment and bullying operation” against his family.
