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11:20 08.10.2026 •
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday called a snap election for Nov. 29, a vote that could signal the demise of the EU’s last major Socialist government and remove one of Europe’s chief critics of U.S. President Donald Trump from the political front line, POLITICO reports.
Already weakened by the corruption cases battering his Socialist Party, Sánchez took a further knock this summer when he faced fierce blowback over his handling of the ongoing migrant crisis in the North African exclave of Ceuta.
But the bitter topic of unaffordable housing — something that tops the list of voters’ concerns in Spain and which has sparked nationwide protests — has finally prompted Sánchez to call an early election in an apparent bid to seize a campaign battleground he believes could work to his advantage.
Lawmakers on Friday rejected two bills intended to address a housing crisis that has ignited major protests across the country since last week over the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from the Madrid apartment where she had lived since 1956.
Although Sánchez has established a reputation as a master of the political bounce-back, he faces a steep climb to turn this latest crisis to his advantage.
Polls overwhelmingly suggest that the country will vote in an administration led by the center-right People’s Party, currently supported by 34% of the electorate, compared with 26% backing the Socialist Party. The PP would likely partner with the far-right Vox party, which is projected to score 18%, according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls.
In calling for an election, Sánchez warned of the surge of the far right.
“You, the Spanish people, must decide what role you wish to play in this era, and what role you want Spain to play,” he said in his address to the nation.
“You must decide whether to join the far-right wave that drives regression wherever it governs, or whether you want Spain to remain a bastion of openness, social justice, and environmental responsibility,” he added.
Polls favor conservatives
Although Sánchez has established a reputation as a master of the political bounce-back, he faces a steep climb to turn this latest crisis to his advantage.
The PP, which has called for snap elections almost from the moment Sánchez renewed his hold on power at the end of 2023, reacted to the news with the short tweet: “AT LAST.”
The snap election caught Spain’s fractured far-left parties scrambling to regroup. That’s a problem for Sánchez’s Socialists, who need the groups to their left to unite behind a viable electoral alliance in order to form a fresh coalition government.
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