Spain PM pins hopes on housing crisis to help win snap election

The chair of Sánchez's Socialist Party (PSOE) Cristina Narbona and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez during a meeting earlier on Monday

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's decision to call a snap election for 29 November came on the back of a parliamentary defeat.

On Friday, the raft of measures he had presented to congress aimed at improving conditions for tenants and trying to address the problem of soaring rentals was narrowly rejected, as parties on the right voted against them.

That parliamentary result confirmed that Sánchez's left-wing coalition no longer commanded a majority.

But as has so often been the case throughout Sánchez's career, the calling of the election was not a knee-jerk reaction but a carefully thought-out manouevre.

His government has been struggling in recent months.

His Socialist Party has been mired in corruption, with cases implicating former senior figures in the party, Santos Cerdán and José Luis Ábalos, while the former Socialist Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, is facing accusations of having benefited financially from the government's bailout of an airline. Zapatero has denied wrongdoing.

In addition, Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez, is due to go on trial over allegations of misuse of funds and influence peddling - accusations that Gómez and Sánchez vehemently deny.

Meanwhile, Sánchez's administration has struggled to manage the crisis in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta in North Africa, where more than 70,000 migrants suddenly arrived in July. Most have returned over the border to Morocco, but the city has become a political and logistical headache for the prime minister.

Thousands have protested in cities across Spain against the government's handling of the influx of migrants to Ceuta

Although Sánchez had insisted until recently that he would see out the legislature and not call elections until next summer, his government had looked increasingly unlikely to make it that far.

The wave of outrage which has exploded in recent days over housing has provided him with the ideal reason to call elections early - and a welcome issue away from Ceuta and the allegations of corruption.

Appealing to his own party's voters and those further to the left on Monday, he called for voters to "mobilise and ensure that parliament gives us a much bigger, progressive majority with which to defeat the elites, conquer social rights and keep transforming Spain".

On the upcoming campaign trail, Sánchez can point to the fact that his adversaries on the right - such as the conservative People's Party (PP) and the far-right Vox - voted against his government's housing measures, which sought to prevent the eviction of tenants, improving the conditions of their contracts and preventing investors from buying residential property.

About 50 marches calling for greater protections for tenants took place in Spain on Saturday, in cities including Madrid - pictured here - Valencia and Barcelona

The PP and Vox tend to oppose any initiative presented by the Sánchez government, which they have long cast as illegitimate due to its scandals and reliance on Catalan and Basque nationalists.

However, as a matter of policy, parties on the right tend to oppose the kind of direct intervention in the housing market that Sánchez has been advocating, warning that it can be counterproductive.

Earlier this year, when Sánchez's international profile rose due to his outspoken criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza and his clashes with US President Donald Trump, there was speculation that he might have used the political capital that gave him on the left and called an early election back then.

However, the housing issue, which is the biggest concern for Spaniards according to polls, appears more likely to mobilise support on the left.

Yet polls also show that the Socialists are trailing the PP. While the housing issue provides Sánchez with a potential fillip on the campaign trail, staying in power after these elections will be probably the biggest challenge of his career.

Spanish PM Sánchez calls early election after housing protests

Spanish intelligence warned of Ceuta mass crossing plans before surge

Embattled Spanish PM insists no prior warnings before Ceuta crisis