Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez calls snap election following housing bill failure

Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has announced a snap general election 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 2018, used a televised address to communicate his decision, which had been widely expected.

Announcing on Monday morning that an early general election would be held on 29 November, the prime minister defended his government’s social and humanitarian record in office and admitted it had made mistakes, but insisted 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 tough time in parliament since the prime minister secured his return to office by striking a controversial deal with Catalan pro-indepedence parties in the aftermath of the inconclusive general election in July 2023.

Unable to pass a budget for the past three years, and 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 a snap election is his best chance of survival.

On Monday morning, Sánchez repeated his familiar insistence 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 drives regression wherever it governs, or to ensure that Spain remains a bastion of openness, social justice, and environmental responsibility. 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 next general election had been due before the end of next summer.

The government’s efforts to address the housing crisis were set out in two decrees that contained a range of measures from a ban on evictions until 2030 to the regulation of temporary lettings and lettings by room.

But the decrees 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 government, said it believedconstruction, and not regulation, was the best way to tackle the crisis.

The rejection of the decrees 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. “These isn’t an election like previous ones. This is about Spain beating Sánchez.”

Vox’s leader, Santiago Abascal, also hailed the decision. “At last we’ll be voting and at last Spain will be able to choose what kind of country it wants to be,” he said. “That’s the only good news Sánchez can bring us these days.”

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 87-year-old woman who was removed from the home in Madrid where she had lived for 70 years. Abascal said she could not possibly afford the 230% 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 2011 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 70,000 people had taken part in a protest in Madrid on Saturday, while organisers put the figure at 500,000.

Although polls consistently place the PP well ahead of Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ party – and show that support for Vox is growing – the prime minister will be hoping that the focus on housing, and the right’s rejection of his government’s plans to address the crisis, will mobilise leftwing 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 around 70,000 people crossed into the territory from neighbouring Morocco in the space of 48 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.