The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called an early election. Although he had until the end of next summer to go to the country, he opted to set an election for November 29, 2026. The reason is the housing crisis in Spain. When an 87-year-old woman was evicted from her home of 70 years, Spaniards took to the streets. Mr. Sanchez put together an emergency package of legislation to address it. However, he leads a minority government, and his plan was voted down. His decision to hold an election might just win him a few more seats, or it will put a right wing government in office.
Mr. Sanchez has been in office for 8 years, and never has he had an outright majority. That says that Spain is politically divided and that Mr. Sanchez is an adept politician. In the time this parliament has remaining to it, this may be his best chance at a popular issue on which to run. His party trails the rightists People’s Party in almost all the polls. Running to keep an old lady in her home is about as good as it is going to get for the government.
The trouble for the PM is quite simply that he has had 8 years, and the people are tired of the same faces in the same places. The government has not been squeaky clean with corruption being on the list of issues concerning the voters. Add to that the fragmentation that has occurred among his coalition partners and would-be partners and the campaign ahead looks like a tough one.
Reuters reported, “Sanchez’s housing measures provided a rare chance for him to pitch himself as the leader of a mobilised left and distract from the more politically damaging issues of the migrant crisis in Ceuta and corruption scandals,” said Lorenzo Bernaldo de Quiros, economist and president of consultancy Freemarket Corporate Intelligence. “This is a window of opportunity. If he does not call elections fast, (those topics) will return to centre stage.”
The election is now called. The PP and the other right-wing parties are going to campaign on as many topics as they can to water down the effects of the housing legislation that failed. Mr. Sanchez is going to have to keep things focused on housing.
It seems the PP is ready for that. Reuters also said, “Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, leader of the opposition People’s Party (PP), on Monday pledged to almost double homebuilding in Spain to 200,000 units a year and cut taxes if he gains power.
“Housing has been this government’s great failure and must be the next one’s success. When a prime minister has been in office for eight years, it is very difficult to blame others for what he has failed to do,” Mr. Feijoo said at a small business conference.
In addition, the Catalan and Basque nationalists movements are going to complicate the campaign and the negotiations after the election if there is no party with a majority. They certainly care about the affordability of housing in Spain, but their agendas are for greater autonomy. They will likely back the housing plans of whoever is going to give them more power in their regions.
The New York Times comments on a further complication:
Small left-wing parties are rushing to choose their leaders ahead of the Nov. 29 election and to capitalize on protests across Spain. Podemos, a far-left party, has proposed holding joint primary elections with other smaller formations this month. Sumar, the junior party in the current governing coalition, has announced that it and other parties would relaunch as an alliance called Frente Amplio. The left’s inability to unite under a single platform could complicate Sánchez’ gambit of trying to secure a parliamentary majority through new elections.
The Chinese have a curse “may you live in interesting times.” Mr. Sanchez is leading Spain in such times.