Spain’s Sánchez calls early elections, setting up showdown with the right

Filed 5h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Onion Capers

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Theodor Horydczak · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called early elections for Nov. 29, eight months ahead of schedule, after Parliament rejected his government's proposed freeze on evictions and rent increases. The move follows mass protests in Madrid over the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from an apartment she'd lived in since 1956, images that drew global condemnation.

Sánchez, whose Socialist party has been battered by corruption scandals touching his wife, brother and former aides, is betting the housing crisis can refocus voters on cost-of-living issues. Polls show the center-right Popular Party with a significant lead, likely requiring a coalition with the far-right Vox party to govern, a pairing the Popular Party once ruled out as too extreme.

Popular Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo has framed the election as a choice between corruption and decency, while experts note Vox has worked to appear more mainstream in recent months.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A government falls behind on housing, loses a no-confidence vote on it, and the prime minister's answer is to ask the same voters for a bigger mandate on the same issue. That's either real conviction or a man betting the house because he's already out of better cards, and the polling suggests which one his opponents think it is.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Onion Capers · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

Read it scored.

Every story, every clown, every kazoo — in your pocket. Music plays automatically. Regret is optional.

GET IT ON iOS GET IT ON ANDROID

OR FOLLOW THE DESK ON BLUESKY →