Spain sets November 29 election after housing measures fail in parliament

Spain will elect both chambers of parliament on November 29 after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced a snap vote on October 5 and an official decree dissolved the Congress and Senate. The election follows the defeat of government housing measures amid protests over rents and evictions, putting housing at the centre of a campaign whose outcome is uncertain.

Sánchez said he was seeking a much broader progressive majority to advance changes in public services and housing. The election call followed a parliamentary setback on October 2, when lawmakers rejected two government housing decrees. Their proposed protections and rental rules did not become law through that vote.

What Spain’s election decree confirms

Royal Decree 806/2026 dissolved the Congress of Deputies and Senate elected in July 2023 and called elections to both chambers for Sunday, November 29. Published in Spain’s official gazette on October 6, it entered into force that day. The formal decree confirms the timetable following Sánchez’s announcement.

The decree sets a 15-day campaign beginning at midnight on November 13 and ending at midnight on November 27. It schedules the new chambers to meet on December 23 at 10 a.m. Those dates establish the electoral process; they say nothing about which parties will control parliament afterward.

Why the housing votes mattered

Deutsche Welle reported that seven lawmakers from the Catalan separatist party Junts voted against the emergency housing measures on October 2. EL PAÍS reported that Junts opposed both decrees alongside the conservative People’s Party and Vox. The defeat exposed the difficulty Sánchez faced in passing measures through a fragmented parliament.

The Independent described one rejected decree as proposing longer eviction protections for vulnerable renters, tighter rules for short-term leases, rental and construction tax incentives, and limits on certain purchases by large property funds. It described the other as proposing automatic extensions of standard five-year residential leases, subject to exceptions when an owner or close relative moved in.

Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez said, according to The Independent, that a unilateral termination under the proposed lease measure would require compensation equivalent to a year’s rent. That was part of the government’s rejected proposal, rather than a rule established by the parliamentary vote.

Sánchez framed the election as a request for public backing to pursue further reforms. In his announcement, he said the government had faced a confrontational parliament and argued that a larger progressive majority would help it address social injustices, public services and housing. Those are his reasons for calling the vote, not a prediction of what the next parliament will deliver.

How protests and rental costs shape the campaign

EL PAÍS reported demonstrations in more than 50 cities, including Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Málaga, and protest camps in central Madrid. It described the eviction of 87-year-old María del Carmen Abascal as a trigger for demonstrations over rising rents, evictions and a shortage of affordable homes.

The Independent reported that about 1,000 protesters camped in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol after Abascal’s September 23 eviction. It later reported that her lawyer said a real estate company had agreed to let her return to the apartment. The reported agreement concerns her case; the wider protests address housing pressures that extend beyond it.

The Independent reported that government-owned rental homes account for less than 2% of available housing in Spain, compared with an EU average of 8%. Citing property platform Idealista, it said average rents rose from €8.20 per square metre in 2016 to €15.10 in 2026. Those figures indicate why rental costs feature prominently in the debate, although the underlying datasets were not separately examined here.

The newspaper also relayed Spanish government figures saying 26% of renters spend an average of 40% of their income on rent and utilities, against 18% of renters across the EU. That comparison is a government-reported measure carried by The Independent, and its precise methodology was not independently assessed here.

What remains open before November 29

Sánchez has governed without a parliamentary majority and relied on smaller parties including Junts, Deutsche Welle reported. It also reported that Spain has not passed a regular national budget since 2023. EL PAÍS said the housing defeat disrupted Sánchez’s plan to present a full budget for the legislature, adding to the political stakes of the vote.

EL PAÍS reported that Socialist Party members saw an opportunity in the political attention on housing, while the People’s Party and Vox expressed confidence about the election. It also reported that migration had become a prominent issue after more than 80,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta. Housing is therefore one major campaign issue, alongside other pressures described in the reporting.

The decree settles when voters will choose a new Congress and Senate, but the parties’ results, the next parliament’s composition and any governing coalition remain unknown. The defeated housing proposals would require a further political path before their measures could take effect.