Spanish PM calls early election in November

MADRID - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Monday that Spain will hold an early general election on Nov. 29.

Sanchez announced the decision in a video statement from the Moncloa Palace at 9 am local time (0700 GMT), saying he would convene an extraordinary cabinet meeting later that morning to dissolve parliament and call the election.

The decision followed parliament's rejection on Friday of two government decrees aimed at easing the housing crisis and strengthening protections for tenants. The People's Party, Vox and the conservative Catalan party Junts per Catalunya voted against both measures.

The rejection highlighted the fragile parliamentary position of the coalition government led by Sanchez's Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), which has relied on support from smaller and regional parties to pass legislation.

The PSOE has led Spain's government since 2018. Its parliamentary group holds 121 seats in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies, while its coalition partner, the left-wing alliance Sumar, holds 26. The coalition has therefore needed support from other parties, including the Basque Nationalist Party and the Catalan Republican Left.

Sanchez said he was seeking renewed public support and a broader progressive majority to advance his government's agenda. He also acknowledged that his government had made mistakes and had not achieved all its objectives.

The announcement came amid widespread protests over Spain's housing crisis, with demonstrators gathering in Madrid and other cities over the weekend to demand government action.