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 on Monday morning to communicate his decision, which had been widely expected.
Announcing that an early general election would be held on Sunday 29 November, the prime minister defended his government’s 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 quick glance at the horizon shows us that the world is in a very complex era of transformation and transition.”
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.
“I have faith in my fellow citizens because I know you are a brave and compassionate people who rise to meet challenges and are unafraid to be the first, or the only ones, to step up and stand on the right side of history,” he said. “ We will work to earn your trust, to inspire hope, and to win again.”
The government’s efforts to address the housing crisis were set out in two decrees that contained a range of measures aimed at improving access to housing, 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 had rejected the government’s plans as it believed that construction, 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”.
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 may 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 also served to deflect attention from the government’s much-criticised handling of the continuing crisis in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, which was sparked when around 70,000 people crossed into the territory from neighbouring Morocco in the space of 48 hours.
