Spanish PM Sánchez calls November election amid growing housing protests

By Vasco Cotovio, Tim Lister and Laura Sharman, CNN

Madrid, Spain (CNN) — Spanish Prime ⁠Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday called ⁠an ​early ​election in an apparent effort to seize the initiative following nationwide protests over a housing crisis sparked by the eviction of a 87-year-old woman.

The election, scheduled for ​November ⁠29, will bring the current parliamentary term to an end more than six months ahead of schedule.

“After informing the head of state, I have decided to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers this morning to dissolve Parliament and call a general election,” Sánchez, leader of the Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), said in a televised address from Moncloa, his official residence in Madrid.

The announcement came after Sánchez’s government last week failed to secure parliamentary backing for two propsoed laws aimed at tackling the country’s housing crisis.

The measures were proposed following mounting public anger at the eviction of Maria del Carmen Abascal, known in Spain simply as Maricarmen, an 87-year-old resident of Madrid’s Retiro neighborhood, whose case has become a symbol of the country’s housing emergency.

Maricarmen had been living in the same house for more than 70 years but was evicted after her rent increased from €500 ($560) to €2,650 ($2,970). Thousands of people took to the streets in fury, and she has become the face of the ruthlessness of Spain’s housing crisis.

For more than a week, hundreds of people have camped out in Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol to protest the crisis, and rallies have taken place elsewhere in Spain.

Madrid’s Tenants Union, one of the groups organizing the protests, claimed about 950,000 people took part in demonstrations across the country over the weekend.

Sánchez, who has been prime minister for more than eight years, called the election three days after right-wing parties in parliament defeated proposed laws aimed to ease the hosuing crisis.

Analysts expect Sánchez to focus on housing in an effort to win over popular support. The conservative Popular Party, which opposed the ptoposed housing reforms, is leading in opinion polls.

“We need to renew people’s support,” Sánchez said on Monday. “We need to mobilise and win a much larger progressive majority in parliament, one that will allow us to overcome vested interests, deliver new social advances and continue transforming Spain.”

Sánchez’s socialist PSOE party has suffered several setbacks in regional elections this year, and a series of corruption scandals involving close associates have also tarnished its reputation.

The migration crisis in Ceuta – in which tens of thousands of migrants crossed into the Spainish terriority bordering Morocco – during the summer intensified that criticism.

“I know that among part of that social majority there is dissatisfaction today,” he said. “You are outraged to see their interests being trampled on in Parliament for the benefit of a select few.”

As he called for snap elections, he conceded his government had made some “mistakes” but argued it had been faced with unprecedented challenges from abroad. He cited the war in Ukraine and the conflicts in the Middle East, he also highlighted Spain becoming one of Europe’s strongest economies.

Sánchez is one of few left-wing leaders in Europe, as the right surges

Sánchez is one of the few center-left leaders in Europe amid a surge in right-wing populism, and he has taken a firm stand on issues such as Palestinian statehood, the responsibility of social media companies and the US campaign against Iran.

Spain refused to allow US bombers to use bases on its territory. Sánchez has been outspoken in his criticism of US strikes, provoking anger and threats from the White House. But rather than back down, Sánchez and his government doubled down, winning public support for his opposition to the Trump administration.

In March, Trump threatened to cut off trade with Spain. “We could use their base if we want, we could just fly in and use it, nobody’s going to tell us not to use it,” he said.

In contrast to much of Europe, Sánchez has also said that immigration is essential to sustain economic growth and moved to regularize the status of hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants in Spain earlier this year.

“I trust my fellow citizens,” Sánchez went on to say. “I know that you are a courageous and compassionate people who rise to challenges, and that you have no qualms about being the first, and the last, to stand on the right side of history.”

Sánchez has put together a series of coalitions with left-wing parties and small separatist parties over the past eight years but has struggled to get legislation through at times, often falling back on decrees. The government has been unable to pass a budget for three years.

Opinion polls suggest a coalition led by the center-right People’s Party (PP) with the support of the far-right Vox party is the most likely outcome in the election. If Vox were to join an incoming government, it would be the first time the far-right would be part of a government in Spain since the return of democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

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