Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced early general elections for 29 November. The decision followed the failure of two bills aimed at tackling the housing crisis.
Sánchez informed King Felipe VI and convened an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers to dissolve parliament. The elections had originally been planned for the summer of 2027.
The housing issue has become one of the most acute topics for Spaniards. In large cities and along the coast, rents and housing prices have soared. Public discontent intensified after the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from an apartment in Madrid: her rent jumped from 500 to 2650 euros.
The government proposed a ban on evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030, higher taxes on tourist apartments and restrictions on the purchase of housing by investment funds. Both bills failed to secure the necessary majority in the Congress of Deputies.
The conservative People's Party, the far-right Vox and the Catalan party Junts per Catalunya came out against them. The latter, despite negotiations with the government, refused to support measures protecting landlords' rights.
Sánchez stressed that solving social problems requires broader progressive support in parliament. "Now the ball is in your court," he said in an address to the country.
Protests against housing policy have swept the entire country. How will this crisis affect the outcome of the elections, and will the new parliament manage to find a compromise on key issues?
Sánchez's minority government has relied for eight years on fragile coalitions with left-wing, regional and separatist forces. The failure of the bills once again showed how difficult it is to advance an agenda under such conditions.
