Spanish PM announces snap general election on July 23

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez announced a snap general election for July 23.

The Socialists suffered a bruising result in the local and regional elections on May 28, with the conservative People's Party sweeping across Spain.

"As head of the government and secretary general of the Socialist party, I take responsibility for the results. I believe we ought to put our democratic mandate to the people’s will," said Sánchez.

With the announcement, Spaniards will vote in the general election in the summer, months before Sánchez's term in office was supposed to expire in late 2023. It's the first time ever that Spaniards will head to the polls on July.

The start of the election campaign will coincide with the beginning of the European Union's Council presidency, which Spain will host from July 1.

Sánchez made a televised address on Monday morning to acknowledge the poor results. "The best thing is to let Spaniards decide the country's political future," he said.

The Socialist prime minister called on his party colleagues to "reflect" on the bad results, but also tried to appear hopeful. "It's not a catastrophe," he said, and called for a "reaction" ahead of the coming general election.

PP sweeps across Spain

In all of Spain, PP surpassed the Socialists in the number of local councilors, with 23,412 in total, about 3,000 more than in the previous election.

The Socialists gained 20,784 local councilor seats across Spain, losing over 1,500 councilor seats from 2019,

PP also emerged as the big winner on Sunday in the number of votes, winning the most support with over 7 million votes across Spain, over 31% of all ballots cast, almost a ten-point increase from the previous election.

The Socialists won over 6.2 million votes, about 28% of the total, a slight decrease from 2019, when they won 29%.

PP beat the Socialists and its left-wing allies in most Spanish regions and major cities, and is expected to secure political power, either by ruling alone or in coalition with far-right VOX.

PP won in seven of the regions: La Rioja and Madrid with an absolute majority, Cantabria, Murcia, Balearic Islands, Aragó and Valencia.

In contrast, the Socialist party won in only four regions, which include Castilla-La Mancha with an absolute majority, Asturias, Extremadura and the Canary Islands.

'The earlier, the better'

Spanish PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo welcomed the announcement made by Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez as "the earlier, the better," he said from the conservative's headquarters in Madrid.

According to him, Sunday's elections were already the start "of a new political era" that will finish with the next general election. For him, Spaniards have "said enough" and asked for a majority in Congress to eliminate "sanchismo" referring to Sánchez's politics.

He wants a "clear, unquestionable, and definitive majority" to "forget" the last five years of government between "the Socialists, with Podemos, Bildu, and the pro-independence parties," where "harm to the nation" has taken place, he said.

Conservatives take major cities

The People’s Party also took some of Spain's largest cities from the Socialists, like Valencia, Sevilla, and Palma de Mallorca, and expanded its power in Madrid with an absolute majority.

The biggest victories for the Socialist Party came in Catalonia, in the regional capitals of Tarragona, Girona and Lleida, and in major cities like L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Sabadell, or Mataró.