Spain Snap Election Set for Nov. 29 After Housing Defeat

Spain’s snap election is set for Sunday, Nov. 29, 2026, after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez dissolved parliament on Monday, Oct. 5, following Congress’ rejection of two emergency housing decrees, according to Euronews. The vote comes nearly eight months before the legislature’s term would have ended.

Sánchez announced the decision in an institutional address from the Moncloa Palace after informing King Felipe VI and convening an extraordinary Cabinet meeting the same morning, the Spanish government said.

Housing decrees defeat triggered the Spain snap election

The lower house voted down the two decree-laws on Friday, Oct. 2, despite last-minute negotiations to secure enough support. The measures had been drafted after nationwide tenant protests sparked by the eviction of an 87-year-old woman who could not pay a sharp rent increase, the BBC reported.

After the defeat, Sánchez spent the weekend consulting ministers and senior figures in his Socialist Party, the PSOE, before deciding to go to the polls rather than serve out the term. He has been prime minister since June 2018. The government has said it intends to bring its housing measures back for a vote even as the election campaign approaches.

Election calendar: key dates through December

Spain’s Official State Gazette published Royal Decree 806/2026 on Tuesday, Oct. 6, formally dissolving the Congress of Deputies and Senate elected on July 23, 2023, El Constitucional reported. The decree starts a 54-day electoral process.

• Official campaign: midnight Nov. 13 through midnight Nov. 27.
• Election day: Sunday, Nov. 29.
• New Cortes convene: Dec. 23 at 10 a.m.

How many seats are at stake

Voters will elect all 350 members of the Congress of Deputies across 52 constituencies, the country’s 50 provinces plus the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, Anadolu Agency reported. Madrid elects the largest delegation with 38 deputies, followed by Barcelona with 32 and Valencia with 16. A total of 209 senators will also be directly elected.

What polls suggest

Most polls suggest the conservatives are likely to emerge as the largest party, according to the BBC. Whoever finishes first will likely need partners to form a government in a fragmented parliament, the same arithmetic that sank the housing decrees.

Spain’s vote adds to a crowded political calendar abroad, following Brazil’s first round covered in our report on the Brazil election runoff. Spain is also among a dozen countries that have pledged bans on goods from Israeli settlements, as noted in our analysis of Israel settlement boycotts.