Sánchez launches Spanish election campaign with housing at its core
The prime minister kicked off in Dos Hermanas before more than 5,000 people and paid tribute to housing-protest symbol Maricarmen Abascal. Feijóo launched in Madrid. Spain votes on 29 November.
Archive image · Photo: Zarateman / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (cropped and resized)
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Saturday opened his campaign for the snap general election on 29 November in Dos Hermanas near Seville, in front of more than 5,000 people. It is the largest city in Andalusia where the Socialists (PSOE) remained in power after the latest regional election. Sánchez also launched his 2019 and 2023 campaigns there. The party comes off a string of defeats – in the 2022 Andalusian election, the 2023 local and general elections, the 2024 European vote and the Andalusian election earlier this year.
Sánchez paid tribute to 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal, a symbol of Spain's housing protests, saying the social cause "bears the name of an 87-year-old woman". He accused his opponents of spreading "messages of fear" for eight years and summed up the choice posed by the People's Party (PP) as "susto o muerte" ("fright or death"): insults in opposition, cuts in government.
PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo launched his pre-election campaign in Madrid on the same day and attacked Sánchez, saying he himself came from a management background. According to Euronews, 2,769,645 Spaniards living abroad have been called to vote – more than 19 percent more than in 2023. Since 2023, the electoral roll has grown by 1.26 million people.