Spain’s Sánchez calls snap election amid housing crisis

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called a snap election for November 29 on Monday, amid a political deadlock fueled by the country’s housing crisis, Reuters reports, CE Report quotes MOLDPRES.

Facing voters at this moment is a risky move, as Sánchez’s Socialist Party is trailing in opinion polls. However, Sánchez has received public support for his proposals to tackle the increasingly severe housing crisis. The measures were well received by the public but were rejected by right-wing lawmakers on Friday, prompting plans for further public protests over the housing crisis.

Sánchez has gained international prominence for his firm stance on progressive issues, from recognizing Palestinian statehood to defending multilateral institutions and taking action against “tech oligarchs,” even as a series of setbacks and scandals have weakened his position domestically.

An election defeat would mean the end of one of Europe’s last left-wing governments at a time when the far right is achieving unprecedented electoral gains across the region, as increasing numbers of European voters move away from the political center.

Opinion polls suggest that a coalition led by the conservative People’s Party (PP), with support from the Vox party, is the most likely scenario in Spain. This would mean a far-right party entering the central government for the first time since Spain returned to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco Franco.

However, Sánchez, a skilled politician, has repeatedly demonstrated his ability to surprise those who had long considered his political career over, Reuters notes.

Although he has never secured enough votes to form a majority government, he has managed to build a series of fragile and seemingly unlikely coalitions, bringing together forces ranging from the far left to the separatist right, and has remained in power for three consecutive terms over a period of eight years.

However, growing divisions among his coalition partners have meant that the government has passed very little legislation during its third term and has failed to approve another national budget since 2023, even as Spain’s economy has continued to be one of the best-performing among developed economies.

Sánchez took office after leading a successful motion to remove Mariano Rajoy, the center-right prime minister, following major corruption scandals within the conservative People’s Party. However, senior members of Sánchez’s own Socialist Party have faced corruption allegations over the past year, further damaging the already low popularity of his party, which has remained between 26% and 31% throughout his tenure.

Contrary to expectations, he nevertheless won a second four-year term in 2023, despite significant losses in previous regional and local elections, managing to secure the backing of an informal alliance of parties in parliament. This was achieved after he promised a highly controversial amnesty for Catalan pro-independence leaders in exchange for their support, a move that many voters viewed as a betrayal of Spanish unity.

Sánchez earned praise early in his tenure for measures such as the exhumation of Franco’s remains from a mausoleum the dictator had built outside Madrid and labour-law reforms that helped bring unemployment down to its lowest level in nearly two decades.

The Spanish prime minister also established a reputation early on for humanitarian and pro-immigration policies, declaring in June 2018 that Spain would accept the migrant rescue ship “Aquarius” and its 629 passengers after both Italy and Malta refused to allow the vessel to dock in their ports.

While other European countries have tightened their immigration policies, Sánchez has consistently argued that immigration is essential to supporting Spain’s economic growth by filling labour shortages in key sectors such as construction, agriculture and hospitality, as well as providing the revenue needed to support Spain’s increasingly pressured welfare system.

More recently, his refusal to accept US demands to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP, while also shifting closer toward China, has unsettled US President Donald Trump and some European leaders concerned about the risk of the bloc being flooded with Chinese goods.

Sánchez’s housing measures have given the Socialist leader a rare opportunity to present himself as the leader of a mobilized left and divert attention from more politically damaging issues, such as the migrant crisis in Ceuta and corruption scandals, said Lorenzo Bernaldo de Quiros, an economist and president of consulting firm Freemarket Corporate Intelligence.

“This is a window of opportunity,” de Quiros said. “If he does not call elections quickly, these issues will return to the center of attention,” the analyst added.

The decision to call an early election was therefore not a surprise. It had already been considered following the failure in parliament of the government’s proposed legislation aimed at easing the housing crisis.

Photo: Instagram/sanchezcastejon