Spanish PM Sánchez calls snap general election after disastrous results in local elections

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday called for snap elections to be held on July 23.

Spain was due to hold general elections by the end of the year, but the Socialist leader announced his decision to move up the date following Sunday’s local elections, which saw his party suffer heavy losses across the country.

The July 23 general election means that the vote will be held just three weeks after Spain takes over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.

With the Socialist party polling six points behind the center-right Popular Party (PP), that scenario opens up the possibility that the rotating presidency may begin with Sánchez as prime minister but conclude with PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo as Spain’s head of government.