{"id":4344,"date":"2026-11-13T13:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T08:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=4344"},"modified":"2026-11-13T13:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T08:04:07","slug":"as-election-nears-spains-sanchez-struggles-to-rally-disillusioned-left","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=4344","title":{"rendered":"As election nears, Spain’s Sanchez struggles to rally disillusioned left"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When Spain\u2019s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called a snap election<\/a> last month, he was betting that anger over housing and fear of the far right would rally all shades of the left behind his Socialists.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But interviews and \u200bpolls suggest that many potential supporters are too furious about the status quo and the perceived failings of his own incumbent government to oblige.<\/p>\n

The eviction<\/a> of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal \u200cin September, and her subsequent death, triggered protests<\/a> against a housing crisis that culminated in a general strike<\/a> which unions said brought more than 3 million onto the streets on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery generation has its own struggle \u2014 for us, that struggle is housing,\u201d Sanchez said at his first rally after calling the vote.<\/p>\n

His challenge as he prepares to face the electorate on November 29 is that the protests led by movements even further to his left have moved well beyond accommodation.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u2018We\u2019re really tired of so many things\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really tired of so many things,\u201d said Maria Torrena Perez, a 40-year-old primary school teacher at a march in Madrid on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need decent housing. We \u200bneed a quality public education system. We need a decent healthcare system. Ultimately, they\u2019re not investing in what they should be investing in. And we\u2019re fed \u2060up with the policies being implemented across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two deadly train crashes<\/a>, corruption convictions<\/a> in Sanchez\u2019s inner circle and a rush of migrants<\/a> into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta have all taken their toll on Sanchez\u2019s \u200bsupport.<\/p>\n

For all his campaigning, polls show backing for his party is still hovering around the 26%-29% level recorded before he called the election.<\/p>\n

Without a shift in the next two weeks, an alliance between the conservative People\u2019s \u200bParty and far-right Vox, a hardline nationalist party championing tighter borders and deregulation, is seen as the most likely next government.<\/p>\n

Interviews with left-of-centre politicians, activists and voters suggested that for many, disillusionment with the status quo outweighs the urge to keep the far right out.<\/p>\n

The \u201clesser evil\u201d pitch of a centrist government standing between them and an ever-harder right is wearing thin, echoing discontent with incumbents that has spilt into social unrest<\/a> across Europe in recent months.<\/p>\n

Sanchez has branded the prospect of \u200ba PP-Vox government a threat to social rights won in recent decades, describing a coalition of the two parties in a recent campaign video as \u201ctwo colours, one project of regression\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some have turned that against \u200bhim. Sanchez\u2019s \u201cself-styled progressive government is a government of slower regression,\u201d said Mario Aguiriano, spokesperson for the Socialist Movement popular among students which gained prominence in Spain\u2019s protest encampments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs the enemy who kills you slowly with poison preferable to the \u200cenemy who \u2060kills you with a chainsaw?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanchez\u2019s Socialist Party \u201cplays in elections and campaigns at being the Che Guevara of the left \u2014 but progressive voters aren\u2019t going to be fooled,\u201d Tesh Sidi, a lawmaker left of Sanchez, said as she explained why voters should choose her \u201cBroad Front\u201d party over their senior partners in the government coalition.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u2018Voting isn\u2019t enough\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The breakdown of talks last month<\/a> among Spain\u2019s left-of-centre parties to form a united platform means disgruntled leftist voters face a choice between sticking with the Socialists, abstaining, or voting for a smaller party that might end up letting the right in.<\/p>\n

Many \u2014 emboldened by the scale and impact of street protests in Spain and \u200bacross Europe, from Serbia to neighbouring Portugal \u2014 have \u200bsuggested that electoral politics may no longer be \u2060the best way to get change.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoting isn\u2019t enough,\u201d said Alicia del Rio, spokesperson for the Tenants Union, which called Wednesday\u2019s general strike.<\/p>\n

It was vital not to \u201chand fascism a seat\u201d, but voting was just one way to make a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter who governs, there needs to be popular power pushing our agenda forward,\u201d she \u200btold reporters at a briefing earlier this month, vowing that the movement would ensure housing remained the main issue in the campaign.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u2018All on red\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

On \u200bthe campaign trail, Sanchez has \u2060deployed the roulette-table phrase \u201call on red\u201d to appeal for tactical votes for his party in provinces which have just a handful of seats, where Spain\u2019s electoral system disadvantages smaller parties.<\/p>\n

With more than a million voters still undecided, just four in five left-leaning Spaniards backing the Socialists in small provinces could turn things around, political consultant Ivan Redondo, a former campaign strategist for Sanchez, told reporters.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the political landscape keeps shifting. Vox is attracting some disillusioned \u2060left-wing voters with \u200bits narratives of defending hard work and protecting Spanish culture, Paco Camas from pollster Ipsos said.<\/p>\n

Other movements have decided the \u200bbest place to be is in opposition.<\/p>\n

Podemos (\u201cWe Can\u201d) \u2014 which at the height of its popularity in 2015 attracted over a quarter of voters but whose support has dropped to just 1.9% in most recent polls \u2014 refused to join the new \u201cBroad Front\u201d or consider \u200ban alliance with the incumbents.<\/p>\n

The Socialists \u201cwill swallow you up if they get the chance,\u201d said the party\u2019s lead candidate, Irene Montero.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Spain\u2019s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called a snap election last month, he was betting that anger over housing and fear of the far right would rally all shades of the left behind his Socialists. But interviews and \u200bpolls suggest that many potential supporters are too furious about the status quo and the perceived failings of his own incumbent government to oblige. The eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal \u200cin September, and her subsequent death, triggered protests against a housing crisis that culminated in a general strike which unions said brought…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}