Spain’s snap election will take place on 29 November after Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez dissolved parliament following the government’s defeat over housing measures and weeks of protests about rents, evictions and the cost of finding a home. The vote comes months before the end of the current legislature, which was not due to expire until 2027.
Sanchez announced the election on Monday from the Moncloa Palace after consulting members of his government and Socialist Party officials over the weekend. He said the decision was intended to give voters the opportunity to decide whether his government should continue with a stronger parliamentary mandate.
“We need to renew people’s support,” Sanchez said in his address. He also called for a broader progressive majority in parliament.
The immediate trigger was the defeat of two government housing decrees in Congress on Friday. The measures were opposed by the conservative People’s Party, Vox and the Catalan party Junts, leaving the minority government without enough support in the 350-seat chamber.
The proposed measures were designed to respond to Spain’s worsening housing problems. They included protection from eviction for vulnerable tenants until 2030, extensions to existing rental contracts, restrictions on purchases of residential property by investment funds and tighter controls on short-term rentals. Another measure sought to establish automatic renewal of rental agreements.
The parliamentary defeat came as housing had become one of the country’s most visible sources of public anger. Protests intensified after the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman who had lived in the same Madrid rental home for more than seven decades. Her case became a focal point for campaigners demanding stronger protection for tenants.
According to reports, Abascal’s rent had risen sharply from around 500 euros a month to 2,650 euros before being reduced to 1,650 euros. That figure was still higher than her monthly pension. Her case helped fuel demonstrations and a continuing encampment in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol.
Thousands of people took part in housing demonstrations across Spain on Saturday. The government estimated that around 70,000 people attended the Madrid protest, while organisers gave a much higher figure of 500,000. Demonstrations were also held in other cities as housing affordability moved further up the national political agenda.
The Puerta del Sol encampment has become a visible symbol of the protests. Madrid’s High Court rejected an urgent request from the regional government to clear the camp on Monday, saying it needed to hear from the central government’s delegation before taking a further decision.
The housing issue is not disappearing with the dissolution of parliament. The government approved new housing measures on Tuesday, which were sent to the Permanent Deputation of Congress, the body that continues to perform limited parliamentary functions after the chambers are dissolved. The government’s side has enough support there to avoid relying on Junts, whose opposition helped defeat the earlier decrees.
The election also exposes the difficulty Sanchez has faced in governing without a stable parliamentary majority. His Socialist Party governs in coalition with Sumar and depends on smaller regional and nationalist parties to pass legislation. His government has not secured a new national budget since 2023.
Sanchez has been prime minister since 2018, and his current government was formed after negotiations with left-wing, Basque and Catalan parties. Parliamentary support was secured in part through an agreement involving an amnesty law covering people connected to the failed 2017 Catalan independence attempt. The issue has remained politically contentious, particularly among opposition parties.
The campaign will also unfold alongside several legal cases involving people close to the prime minister. Sanchez’s wife, Begona Gomez, is facing a jury trial on charges including influence peddling and embezzlement, which she denies. Sanchez has defended her and has not been charged in the case. His brother, David Sanchez, was convicted in July of administrative misconduct linked to his hiring by the provincial government of Badajoz and was barred from holding public office for nine years.
The opposition People’s Party welcomed the election. Its leader, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, said voters would now have the opportunity to decide whether Sanchez should remain in office or whether Spain should have a change of government. He has criticised the government’s record on issues including corruption, migration and public services.
Vox leader Santiago Abascal also welcomed the election, while acknowledging that the result remained uncertain. The People’s Party and Vox are among the parties seeking to make immigration and other national issues central to the campaign, while Sanchez is placing housing and public services at the centre of his appeal to voters.
Opinion polls published before the election campaign have generally placed the People’s Party ahead of the Socialists, although polling does not determine the final distribution of seats. The numbers also point to a potentially difficult coalition-building process, with the People’s Party potentially needing support from Vox or other parties to form a government.
Housing is therefore likely to remain a major issue throughout the campaign. Reuters reported that Spain faces a significant shortage of homes, while high rents and limited access to home ownership have placed particular pressure on younger adults. The debate has also exposed disagreements over how Spain should increase housing supply while protecting tenants from sharp rent increases and evictions.
The government’s minority position has made that debate more difficult. The housing decrees were opposed not only by the main conservative opposition but also by Junts, whose seven seats have often been important to Sanchez’s ability to pass legislation. Junts has argued that some of the proposed measures could reduce rental supply and create uncertainty for the housing market.
The election will also take place against a wider debate over migration. Spain has faced increased political pressure over arrivals in its North African enclave of Ceuta, an issue that Vox has used heavily in its political messaging. The subject is expected to compete with housing, the economy and public services for attention during the campaign.
For housing campaigners, however, the election does not end the protests. Tenant groups have said they intend to maintain pressure on political parties and have warned that housing will remain a central issue throughout the campaign. The national trade unions have also agreed to call a general strike later this autumn, with housing access and wages among their stated concerns.
The formal electoral timetable is now underway. Spain’s parliament was dissolved on Tuesday, 6 October, when the decree calling the election was published in the Official State Gazette. Under electoral law, 54 days must pass between publication of the decree and polling day, making 29 November the first available date for the election.
The result will determine not only who leads Spain’s next government but also whether the country’s fragmented parliament becomes easier or harder to govern. For now, the political debate has moved from whether Sanchez could complete the current legislature to a much more immediate question: what voters will do when they go to the polls on 29 November.
