Sánchez and Feijóo Open Spanish Campaigns With Housing at Center

Spain’s Nov. 29, 2026 snap general election campaign opened Oct. 10 with housing at its center after 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal was evicted from her Madrid home two weeks earlier and died Wednesday in hospital. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in power since 2018, launched in Dos Hermanas, Seville, before about 5,000 supporters—the site of his 2017 comeback—saying "the social cause bears the name of an 87-year-old woman," repeating her plea that no one else suffer what she had, and promising stronger tenant protections against real estate speculation if Socialists win an absolute majority. His minority government’s housing decrees had failed in parliament, prompting the early vote originally set for 2027. Popular Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo opened the same day in Madrid, casting himself as the alternative: he does not come "from the saunas or the sewers" but "from management," "Spain needs a future and he (Sanchez) needs to be in the past," and "We are proposing a total change." He also held a Wednesday Ceuta event on migration after more than 70,000 people entered from Morocco in late July. Hundreds remained camped in Puerta del Sol and other cities; unions set a Nov. 11 general strike, the first since 2012. Sánchez trails the PP in most polls; Feijóo may need Vox in any coalition. CONTESTED: nothing contested in the record.