Spain calls snap election after housing bill defeat

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called a snap election for November 29 after parliament rejected housing relief measures proposed by his minority government.

Sanchez said in a televised address on October 5 that Spain needed to “renew and broaden the support of the people”. He said his aim was to secure a broader progressive majority in parliament. The next general election had been due by August 2027.

The announcement followed growing protests over Spain’s housing market. Tens of thousands of people marched in Madrid and other Spanish cities on Saturday to demand action on housing affordability.

The rejected measures included automatic renewal of tenancy contracts and restrictions on evicting vulnerable tenants. Opposition parties voted them down, including the Catalan separatist party Junts, whose support Sanchez’s government relies on. Junts argued that the measures were drawn up hastily and would make the housing crisis worse.

The protests were fuelled by the eviction last month of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her Madrid flat, where she had lived for decades. The corporate new owners of the building later reached a deal allowing her to return at a low rent.

Hundreds of protesters have occupied a tent city in central Madrid for more than a week calling for housing reforms. Alicia del Rio, a spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants’ Union, said the protest movement would not stop and renewed a call for a general strike.

Recent opinion polls have generally put the conservative Popular Party ahead of Sanchez’s Socialists. The PP would likely need the far-right Vox to form a government.

Federico Santi, a Europe analyst at Eurasia Group, said making housing the central campaign issue could mobilise left-leaning voters. He said an early election could help limit further erosion of Socialist support amid inflation, legislative deadlock and corruption scandals.

Sanchez defended his government’s record, saying Spain’s economy had grown faster than those of its main European peers and that unemployment had fallen during his time in power.

But he is also under pressure over corruption scandals involving people close to him, including his wife and senior figures in his Socialist Party. He has also faced criticism over his handling of the crisis in Ceuta, where thousands of migrants from Morocco entered in late July.

PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo welcomed the election announcement, saying: “If eight years have not been enough, why would four more be?”