UPDATE - Spain’s prime minister calls early general elections for July

UPDATES WITH MORE COMMENTS FROM POLITICIANS

​​​​​​​By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Monday that he will dissolve the government and trigger elections for July 23.

The announcement came a day after local elections, which saw Sanchez’s Socialist Party lose the leadership of several regional governments, including Valencia, Aragon and Extremadura. On the municipal level, it also lost to the Popular Party.

“As prime minister and head of the Socialist Party, I assume my responsibility, and I think it’s necessary to respond to these results and submit our democratic mandate to the popular will,” Sanchez said in a televised speech.

Spain will also become the rotating president of the EU Council in July, and Sanchez said Spanish citizens should clarify which government it wants to “take on this responsibility in this very important geopolitical context.”

He added that Spain is now on a clear path of recovery from the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, and that his government has already passed the programs it promised when elected.

“We need to clarify which political forces should be leading this next phase, and there’s only one infallible method to clear up these doubts – democracy.”

Although the move to trigger elections for this summer came as a surprise, Spain was set to hold general elections sometime before the end of the year.

In most of the regions that the Socialist Party lost, the Popular Party failed to win outright majorities, which means the governments will depend on the support of the far-right party Vox.

Sanchez’s sudden move to call elections puts pressure on the mainstream conservative party and the far-right politicians to figure out their unclear alliance.

If they are unable to form local governments as the Popular Party hesitates to pact with Vox, it could suggest that a left-wing coalition is the only alternative at a national level. If the Popular Party pacts with Vox, it could also repel some mainstream conservatives.

However, opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo celebrated Sanchez’s move to call early elections, saying “the sooner the better.”

“We’re just getting started … Spain has taken its first step to opening a new political cycle,” he added.

Feijoo explained that the Popular Party was still analyzing results and would figure out the best way to form local governments.

The leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, also applauded the news, saying calling snap elections was the “only good thing Sanchez has done in four years.” He called on Feijoo to join him to create a right-wing alternative to “socialists, communists, separatists and terrorists.”

Politicians to the left of Sanchez now have to scramble to figure out how to move forward after suffering from dismal results on Sunday. Their popularity not only dropped significantly, but was fractured by in-fighting between Podemos and a new platform led by deputy prime minister Yolanda Diaz called Sumar.

“I accept the challenge to do things differently from here on out,” said Diaz.

The head of Podemos Ione Belarra added that she wants to re-unite the left to do better “in round two.”

Meanwhile, the liberal Ciudadanos party nearly disappeared on Sunday, and will decide on Tuesday whether to even run in the upcoming national elections.