Spanish prime minister calls for early general election
- Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called for the Spanish Parliament to be dissolved and for an early general election.
- The vote is set to take place on July 23 and follows heavy losses by Sanchez's ruling Socialist party in the Sunday regional elections.
- "Although yesterday's elections had a municipal ... scope, the sentiment of the vote carried a message that went beyond that," Sanchez said in a press briefing, according to a CNBC translation.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called for the Spanish Parliament to be dissolved and for an early general election to be held on July 23.
Sanchez said he had informed Spain's King Felipe VI of his intentions.
General elections were previously set to be held in December, but were brought forward by the heavy losses sustained by Sanchez's ruling Socialist party in the May 28 vote. The results showed that the Socialist party narrowly retained just three of the 12 regions that held elections, while the conservative People's Party and its coalitions claimed the rest.
"I took this decision in light of the results of the elections held yesterday," Sanchez said in a televised press briefing on Monday, according to a CNBC translation.
"Although yesterday's elections had a municipal ... scope, the sentiment of the vote carried a message that went beyond that. For this, as leader of the government and also as secretary-general of the Socialist party, I assume the personally the results, and I think it necessary to give an answer."
Javier Lamban — leader of Aragon, from which the People's Party wrested control during the Sunday vote — said earlier on Monday before the results were out: "We knew we had to build a wall that would be impenetrable by the national tsunami but in the end the wall did not hold out."