Madrid/The president of the Spanish Government, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, announced this Monday the dissolution of the Cortes Generales and the advancement of the general elections to Sunday, November 29.
Sánchez made this decision after the parliamentary defeat of two housing decrees presented to Congress by his Government last Friday, and the social mobilization produced by the eviction in Madrid of an 87-year-old woman from the house where she lived.
In an appearance at the Moncloa palace, Sánchez defended the work of his government during the legislature and called on Spaniards to decide if they want Spain to join the “far-right wave” that regresses and cuts rights or if they want the country to continue being “a bastion of openness and social justice and environmental responsibility.”
Sánchez, who yesterday informed the king of the electoral advance, assured that his Government had taken “brave measures” during these years to strengthen the welfare state, without sacrificing it to a 5% increase in military spending, as the US and NATO demand, also to build “a better world” in the face of “tyrants”, “techno-oligarchs” and “genocidaires”.
He acknowledged, however, “errors,” and said that the Executive has not been able to accomplish everything it had proposed, so it decided to call elections, to provide itself with a broader progressive majority to “subdue the elites,” achieve new social advances and “continue transforming” Spain.
He acknowledged, however, “errors,” and said that the Executive has not been able to accomplish everything it had proposed, so it decided to call elections, to provide itself with a broader progressive majority to “subdue the elites.”
On Friday, the Chief Executive opened a period of analysis and reflection to decide whether or not to bring forward the elections, after Congress rejected those two decrees on housing rentals, a sector that has suffered high prices for several years.
The two main right-wing parties (PP and Vox) voted against the decrees, in addition to the Catalan independentists of Junts, who were key in the final result for the rejection of the measures proposed by the Government to alleviate the high cost of rent and stop evictions.
The parliamentary debate and the subsequent vote on the measures took place in an environment of growing social protest of large demonstrations and encampments in cities, the main one in Madrid, to demand the right to decent housing at an affordable price, and to prevent the eviction of tenants who are in a personal situation of socioeconomic precariousness.
Sánchez had repeated until now that the elections would be in 2027, when the legislature ended, which began in 2023, despite the political difficulties. The Government, formed by a coalition of the PSOE and Sumar (left), lacks a parliamentary majority and it was increasingly difficult to carry out the laws due to the crossed vetoes of the parties that are part of the legislature.
Added to this are the corruption investigations that affect the Socialist Party and the judicial cases that affect Sánchez’s direct relatives.
The president assured that in the last three years he has had to “deal with the worst opposition” in Spanish democratic history, “without any sense of State”, which he accused of “even questioning the legitimacy” of the electoral system.
He also reproached him for “blocking measures and voting against policies that were good for the country” and for “using his autonomous (regional) and municipal power to boycott policies that are good for ordinary people.”
On the contrary, he thanked the support of other parliamentary forces that “have known how to see beyond their differences to build agreements for the benefit of the social majority.”
However, he admitted that, in part of that social majority, today there is “dissatisfaction”, because these people “are outraged to see how their interests, the interests of ordinary people, are trampled in Parliament for the benefit of a few”, he commented in reference to the fact that the opposition voted against the aforementioned decrees on housing rentals.
For this reason, he called for a broader progressive majority to be sought, with the electoral advance. According to Sánchez, the world faces a time of “great dangers”, with “a lot of tension” due to the climate emergency, social changes and “very disruptive” artificial intelligence. And he added that it is up to the Spanish voters to decide.
Shortly after, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, appeared, who this Monday appealed for change to close this “dark stage” and undertake a “national reconstruction.” After ensuring that the call responds to “fear” and that he will now try to “spread it” among the population, he stated that the management of the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, deserves “the greatest punishment.”
After ensuring that the call responds to “fear” and that he will now try to “spread it” among the population, he stated that the management of the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, deserves “the greatest punishment.”
“Finally. Finally, Spain will say what it thinks, finally the majority will speak again. Finally, the Spaniards will decide. Not a few, not just one, all Spaniards,” Feijóo said in an institutional statement at the PP headquarters, without admitting questions.
Feijóo has said he is “fully sure” that the call on the 29th responds to “fear.” “Fear of knowing every last detail of what remains to be known in the tangle of open corruption cases, the most serious in all of democracy,” he emphasized, adding that it is also a “desperate last resort to try to spread that fear among the population.”
“The fear of alternation is a deeply undemocratic behavior but it has an infallible antidote. This stage is not yet over, but it is about to be if we do not trust ourselves,” he exclaimed, to show himself convinced that the majority of Spaniards want to “turn the page.”
Therefore, he has said that it now depends on them completing the work. “It is no longer in their hands, it is in ours. And if people respond, I know that after the elections, to a large extent it will be in mine,” he said.
Feijóo believes that with the elections they have the opportunity to “finally” allow “someone who should never have come this far” to leave. In his opinion, the date of the elections is “the only good news that Sánchez could give at this point.”
“They are not just another election. The dilemma of November 29 is more than just choosing between two parties. It is about choosing between a project of personal ambition or a national project,” he stated, adding that this “is not simply about the PP beating the PSOE” because “they are not elections like the previous ones in democracy.”
According to Feijóo, the question that citizens must answer is whether they want four more years of what they are living or if they want to give change a chance. In his opinion, these years have suffered “unscrupulous politics”, “an ambition for unlimited power” and “a Government willing to do anything to resist.”
The leader of the conservatives has assured that “maintaining power has been the only goal” and added that “citizens have been hostages and the money they pay, with the fruit of their effort, a resource to be appropriated.” In his opinion, the State has had more resources than ever and yet today, “eight years later, the cost of living is unbearable”, with the price of housing “unattainable”, infrastructure “decent”, immigration “is uncontrolled” and there is “more insecurity”.
Furthermore, he highlighted that “the increased tax collection has not even served to properly address the attack on the territorial integrity” in Ceuta”, alluding to the massive entry of irregular immigrants at the end of July.
“The challenges of the next legislature are only comparable to those that Spain had to face 50 years ago,” he asserted, to underline that whoever “has created the problems is incapable of solving them.”
After ensuring that he wants a Government “for the majority”, he stated that Spain “does not need four more years of resistance” but rather “needs a project that once again brings together the energies of the entire nation.”
“What is at stake in the next elections is no longer mere alternation. It is the imperative need to address national reconstruction,” he proclaimed, adding that Spaniards need to rebuild their “collective self-esteem” and “recover the pride of belonging to a country that does not give up.”
For this reason, the president of the Popular Party has insisted that on November 29, a choice is made between “decadence or change”, “lie or change”, “incompetence or change, division or change, corruption or change”.
Feijóo has said he is aware of the magnitude of the work that will have to be done and has guaranteed that his “pulse will not tremble.” “If the Spanish give me their trust, I will not betray it. Everything that remains to be known will be known. Everything that needs to be done will be done and everything that needs to be repaired will be repaired,” he said.
The parties to the left of the PSOE, which until now were the third force in Congress through the coalition called Sumar, will run in these elections under the name Frente Amplio
Finally, he has called on citizens to go to the polls on the 29th so that a “deep, honest and necessary” change can occur in Spain. “We will finally be able to vote for it. Finally we can choose. Finally, Spain has the floor. Let’s go for it,” he claimed.
The parties to the left of the PSOE, which until now were the third force in Congress through the coalition called Sumar, will run in these elections under the name Frente Amplio and have not yet decided who their candidate will be. With the polls predicting a significant fall for this bloc, its main bet is to capitalize on the enormous mobilizations of the last week over the housing situation.
For his part, the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, has been cautious and has asked the electorate to be “alert”, “not to trust the polls” and “not to sell the bear’s skin before hunting it”, alluding to an eventual victory for the PP and Vox.
“I have already learned not to put myself in inappropriate positions and not to sell the bear’s skin before hunting it, because it already happened in 2023, the polls said the same as today (they predict a comfortable majority for PP and Vox) and Sánchez managed to form a majority,” Abascal warned.
