Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announces early legislative elections on July 23

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced, Monday, May 29, the surprise call of early legislative elections on July 23 in Spain, the day after a final rout of the left against the conservatives in a double municipal and regional ballot. .

During a televised address, Pedro Sanchez announced that he had communicated to King Felipe VI, the Head of State, his “decision to (…) dissolve Parliament and to proceed with the calling of general elections”.

The Prime Minister’s Socialist Party suffered a heavy defeat in municipal and regional elections on Sunday. The People’s Party (PP) won the largest number of votes in the municipal elections, more than 7 million (31.5%), some two million more than four years ago, against less than 6.3 million ( 28.1%) for the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). Above all, according to public television TVE and the daily El Paisthe PP has conquered at least six of the 10 regions hitherto ruled (directly or within a coalition) by the PSOE: the Valencian Community (east), fourth in the country by population, Aragon (center), Extremadura (west), the Balearic Islands (east), Cantabria and Rioja (north).