Sánchez sets November 29 election after housing bill defeat

Polls place opposition PP within reach of governing with Vox

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced Monday that he would dissolve Spain’s parliament and hold snap elections on November 29, a move that follows Friday’s rejection of a housing bill by lawmakers and protests that broke out late last month across Spanish cities over housing costs.

Sánchez framed the election in a televised address as a contest over Spain’s political direction. “We want to bring about a much larger progressive majority in parliament,” he said. He added that Spanish voters would have to decide whether to join a “regressive” far-right wave that he said has surged in Europe.

The trigger for the snap election was the rejection on Friday of a key piece of housing legislation that would have extended support to renters. The vote demonstrated the fragility of Sánchez’s mandate in a parliament where his Socialist Party lacks a majority.

Sánchez began a new term as head of the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy in 2023 but lacks a parliamentary majority. The housing bill’s defeat on Friday demonstrated those constraints.

Protests broke out late last month across Spain’s cities against what many see as an unaffordable housing market, symbolized by the recent eviction of an 87-year-old woman from the flat she had lived in for decades.

Polls suggest the conservative opposition People’s Party would win the most votes in a November election and could command a parliamentary majority alongside Vox. The People’s Party responded quickly to Sánchez’s announcement, posting a video on social media tagged “AT LAST.” Vox leader Santiago Abascal was due to give a television interview later Monday.

Beyond housing, immigration has become a hot-button topic in Spanish politics after thousands of migrants crossed into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta from Morocco this summer. That episode kept immigration in the political spotlight alongside housing ahead of the November 29 vote.

The November 29 vote will give Spanish voters a direct decision on the housing protests that spread across Spain’s cities last month and on whether to join the “regressive” far-right wave Sánchez described. Polls suggest the conservative Popular Party could win the most votes and form a government with the far-right Vox.