Spain's Sánchez Calls Snap Election for November 29 After Housing Decree Defeat Triggers Government Collapse

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced a snap general election for November 29, 2026, in a televised address on October 5, after Parliament rejected emergency housing relief measures proposed by his minority coalition government, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, Euronews and Reuters reported. The defeat came on October 2 when opposition parties blocked two housing decrees amid nationwide protests over affordability following the September 23 eviction of 87-year-old María del Carmen Abascal from her Madrid apartment.

Sánchez acknowledged making mistakes and falling short of campaign promises, saying he needs to renew people's support and win a larger progressive parliamentary majority. The election comes roughly eight months earlier than originally planned. Opinion polls suggest a coalition led by the conservative People's Party with support from the far-right Vox party is the most likely outcome, which would mark the first time since the death of dictator Francisco Franco that the far right would hold cabinet positions in Spain.

The early election crystallizes Spain's housing affordability crisis as a defining political fault line ahead of the vote. Social housing in Spain comprises under 3 percent of the housing stock according to OECD data, among the lowest in Europe, and the government's inability to pass emergency relief has left tens of thousands of protesters without a policy response. Sánchez's minority coalition, governing with junior partner Sumar since 2023, now faces a critical test of whether voters will grant the broader mandate needed to overcome vested interests opposing housing intervention, or whether they will shift power to a right-wing bloc that opposes the proposed rent controls and eviction bars that Parliament rejected.

Sources

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