Sánchez considers November election as housing coalition fractures
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Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is weighing a snap general election for November 29 after his government's housing decrees met a wall of opposition in Congress. Ministers and senior Socialists are reportedly urging the move now that the regional party Junts has joined the People’s Party and Vox to block the legislation, leaving the minority coalition without a path forward.
The standoff has moved from the chamber to the pavement. Protesters clashed with police outside Congress as deputies debated the rent controls, while Junts leader Carles Puigdemont demanded the government withdraw its proposals entirely in favor of his own. The government has refused to blink, insisting that the country cannot wait for Junts to change its mind.
The timing is awkward for a coalition that relies on the very parties currently blocking its agenda. While the decrees are unlikely to pass the current vote, a recent survey suggests the policy itself is popular: a majority of voters from both the left and the right say they favor government intervention to lower rents.