Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced a General Election for Sunday 23 July. The surprise announcement follows the poor results for his PSOE socialist party in Sunday’s local and regional elections. ALSO READ: Spain’s right-wing make significant gains in local and regional elections.
Prior to Sunday’s debacle, Sánchez had insisted that he would ride out his four-year term with the left-wing coalition partner, the Podemos group, indicating that an election would be held in December.
The woes for Sánchez and his socialist party come as Spain is due to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union on 1 July.
Sánchez said he had spoken to king Felipe VI and would hold a special Cabinet meeting later Monday to dissolve parliament.
‘I have taken this decision given the results of the elections held yesterday,’ Sánchez from the Moncloa presidential palace on Monday morning.
The local and regional elections saw Spain taking a major swing to the right and made the leading opposition right-wing People’s Party (PP) the main political force in the country.
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