Sánchez Dissolves Parliament, Calls Snap Election for November 29
The prime minister made the announcement from Moncloa after his two housing decrees were defeated in Congress. The vote will be a referendum on his government and the housing crisis.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced early general elections for November 29, dissolving parliament after his government suffered a double defeat on housing legislation in Congress. The announcement was made Monday morning from the steps of the Moncloa Palace in a solemn institutional declaration.
"Spaniards must decide what role to play, whether to join that far-right wave or for Spain to continue being a bastion of openness, social justice and environmental responsibility," Sánchez said. "I trust my compatriots." He framed the election as a choice between a progressive government and a coalition with the far right, warning that the opposition "only wants to benefit a privileged minority."
The snap election comes after Congress rejected two housing decrees on Friday. The first was defeated 178 to 172, with the conservative People's Party, far-right Vox, and Catalan separatist party Junts voting against. The second failed 184 to 166, with the Basque Nationalist Party and Canary Islands Coalition joining the opposition.
The decrees were introduced in response to the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from the Madrid apartment where she had lived for seven decades. She was carried out on a stretcher, and the case became a symbol of Spain's housing crisis. The measures would have protected vulnerable tenants from eviction, restricted speculative property purchases, and introduced automatic renewal of rental contracts. Housing campaigners had camped in Madrid's Puerta del Sol for days, and protests were held in more than 50 cities.
Sánchez had spent the weekend in consultations after the defeat, with many voices in his Socialist Party urging him to call elections. The election will be held just under a year before the previously scheduled date in 2027.
The political landscape is tense. The opposition People's Party has been leading in recent opinion polls. The left-wing Sumar coalition, the junior partner in government, is still without a candidate. A general strike over housing has been called by tenant unions.
For now, Spain is heading to the polls. The campaign will be fought on housing, the economy, and the choice between Sánchez's progressive coalition and a conservative opposition that has promised to reverse his policies. And the prime minister, who has survived multiple political crises, is betting his future on a gamble that the street and the ballot box will deliver the majority he could not secure in parliament.
Written by Christiane Hofreiter christiane.hofreiter@alpineweekly.com