Europe · Sunday, 4 October 2026
Mass housing protests in Spain, Sánchez won't rule out snap election
Spain's parliament rejected two government decrees meant to protect tenants on October 2, by margins of 178 to 172 and 184 to 166, and the next day protesters took to the streets in more than 50 cities, with organisers putting the Madrid crowd at nearly 500,000 against the police's 70,000 estimate. Demonstrators are demanding a 50 percent rent cut, open-ended leases and the expropriation of flats held by investment funds, and tenants' unions are now threatening a general strike. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who said before the vote that an early election was not on the table, acknowledged afterward that his government would “analyse the situation without ruling out any option.”