Spain's Sánchez calls snap general election for 29 November after housing defeat

5 October 2026

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called an early general election for 29 November. The decision followed the lower house, Congress, voting down two housing decrees put forward by his government on Friday. The first decree was rejected by 172 votes in favour to 178 against. The decrees were meant to answer public anger over housing affordability after the televised eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid. Sánchez spent the weekend consulting ministers and Socialist Party (PSOE) figures before deciding. His coalition has struggled to win votes in Congress amid corruption cases and a migration crisis in Ceuta.