Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has dissolved parliament and called a snap general election after facing mounting pressure from mass protests over the country’s housing crisis.
Sánchez called the early election for November 29 during a televised speech to the nation from the Palace of Moncloa, his official residence in Madrid.
“The time has come for the Spanish people to decide what future they want for themselves and for their country,” Sánchez said. The announcement comes less than 72 hours after Sánchez’s government failed to secure parliamentary backing for his measures to tackle housing crisis.
Sánchez said he needed “to renew and broaden public support to undertake the necessary reforms so that citizens can reduce these levels of inequality.”
For days hundreds of people have camped out in Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol to protest the housing crisis gripping the country. Demonstrations calling for measures to address the housing emergency have also spread to cities across Spain over the past week.
Immigration is the other unfinished business of Sanchez government after the latest Ceuta mass migrants crossing following a mass regularization which drew objections from other European Union member states.
