Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez opened campaigning for Spain’s November 29 general election in Dos Hermanas, a commuter town outside Seville, putting the housing crisis that forced the snap vote at the centre of his pitch. Speaking at a Socialist Party (PSOE) rally on Saturday, Sanchez vowed that his housing policies would have “no expiry date” if he secured another term and promised to strengthen legislation protecting tenants and small property owners against “real estate speculation.”
The symbolism was deliberate. Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old Madrid pensioner whose eviction became the face of the country’s housing emergency, died in hospital on Wednesday. Sanchez invoked her directly, telling supporters the struggle for housing would be fought “with the force of the people and with a broad and progressive majority.” PSOE organisers said about 5,000 people attended the rally, which also drew Andalucian Socialist leader Maria Jesus Montero.
The campaign starts under the pressure that created it. Two government housing decrees were rejected in Congress by the Popular Party, Vox and Junts earlier in October, prompting Sanchez to dissolve parliament more than six months ahead of schedule. The government has since revived the measures, which are due before Parliament’s Permanent Deputation next week. Most polls put the conservative PP ahead without a majority, and Sanchez trails even as he bets the election will produce the broader progressive bloc he needs to overcome what he called “vested interests.”
Sanchez chose Dos Hermanas for a reason: he launched his 2023 campaign there and defied the polls to retain office, and it was the stage for his political resurrection after he resigned as PSOE leader in 2016. The parallels are the strategy. Seven weeks to November 29, he needs the same comeback against a PP that leads in most surveys, with the November 11 general strike over the same cost-of-living grievances as the next street test.