A crowd of demonstrators gathered yesterday outside the Congress, and the Tenants’ Union, which is organising the protests, has stated that it will continue to organise further mass demonstrations as early as today. The camps at Puerta del Sol, in the centre of Madrid – the very spot where the Indignados protested in 2011, at the height of the country’s economic and financial crisis – will also remain in place. “The camp will continue and will keep spreading to other neighbourhoods. We are aiming for a general strike,” said Alicia del Rio, spokesperson for the Tenants’ Union.
The leader of the People’s Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has accused Sánchez of exploiting the housing crisis for his own electoral gain and has called for Parliament to be dissolved and for a snap election. “All of Sánchez’s moves are designed not in the interests of the public, but – he said – with the polls in mind.”
Support for the Sánchez government has fallen in recent weeks due to the migrant crisis in Ceuta.
According to the latest analysis by the CIS, the Socialists remain the leading party with 31 per cent of the vote, but an alliance between them, Sumar and Podemos would only reach just over 40 per cent of the vote, falling short even of the coalition of right-wing parties.
Pablo Simon, a professor of Political Science at Carlos III University in Madrid, is inclined to believe that Sánchez will once again decide to call a snap election: ‘He must call an election within nine months in any case. So the question is: will he have a better opportunity than this in three or six months’ time? That is the question he will ask himself. And the answer is probably no.” According to sources at Moncloa, Sánchez could make a decision as early as Monday and call a general election for 29 November.
