Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez responded to the mass protests sweeping the country over the housing crisis, and the brazen attempt of the neo-con PP and Vox parties to use that crisis to topple his government, by calling snap elections for Nov. 29.
“Sánchez, who has been prime minister for more than eight years, called the election three days after right-wing parties in parliament defeated proposed laws aimed to ease the housing crisis,” CNN reported.
“We need to renew people’s support,” Sánchez said on Monday. “We need to mobilize and win a much larger progressive majority in parliament, one that will allow us to overcome vested interests, deliver new social advances and continue transforming Spain…. I know that among part of that social majority there is dissatisfaction today,” he said.
“You are outraged to see their interests being trampled on in Parliament for the benefit of a select few.”
Sánchez is also expected to campaign on his foreign policy, that of being one of the few governments in Europe to stand up to the NATO war against Russia in Ukraine; to denounce genocide in Gaza while calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state; and to call for protecting the rights of migrants and regularizing their situation.
Opinion polls—for whatever they are worth—show the PP and Vox as the likely winners of the upcoming election.
There’s little doubt that London and Washington would like to see that outcome. The London Financial Times wrote sarcastically that “Pedro Sánchez’s swagger abroad—as a standard-bearer for the global left and a rare European leader willing to confront Donald Trump—contrasts sharply with his weakness at home…. His bet on a November snap election is a final attempt to rescue his premiership by turning Spain’s housing crisis into a cudgel against the rightwing opposition…. He cast himself as Trump’s European nemesis on defense spending, the wars in Iran and Gaza, and the poisonous impact of social media.”
But the ubiquitous strategy of “corruption scandals”—used to great effect against Lula in the Brazil elections—can be used to good effect against Sánchez as well, the FT recommends.
“His opponents are seeking to channel public disgust over a swirl of corruption cases against people close to the prime minister, including his wife Begoña Gómez, who is set to stand trial for misusing public funds and exploiting her relationship with him. She denies wrongdoing.”
