Spain’s PM Pedro Sánchez calls snap election after crushing defeat in regional polls

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has called a snap election after his coalition government suffered a heavy defeat in regional polls.

The election, which will take place on July 23, was announced after the conservative People’s party (PP) achieved an emphatic victory over the governing socialists in Sunday’s polls.

“I have taken this decision given the results of the elections held yesterday,” Sánchez said Monday from the Moncloa presidential palace.

The announcement will be seen as an attempt to limit internal plots to oust him ahead of the polls, originally understood to be taking place in December.

"Although yesterday’s elections had a local and regional scope, the meaning of the vote conveys a message that goes beyond that," Sanchez said in a televised speech. "I believe it is necessary to respond and submit our democratic mandate to the will of the people."

Sánchez’s Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and its far-left ally Podemos both suffered in Sunday’s polls, with the latter losing ground across the country. If a similar performance played out at a national level, the conservative People’s Party (PP) and far-right Vox could see both Sánchez and his party unseated.

Sunday’s elections could see PP take as many as eight regional governments from PSOE, though the results are largely dependent on whether the party decides to form an alliance with Vox, whose leader, Santiago Abascal, has remarked that it is “here to stay.”

Vox is “here to be decisive in the construction of the alternative Spain needs”, Abascal stated earlier on Monday, confirming that he was open to forming national and regional governing coalitions with the PP.