Party leaders and ministers are urging Pedro Sánchez to call early elections if Junts per Catalunya blocks two major housing decrees in Congress. Inside PSOE, nerves are fraying, and a snap vote now looks possible. Sources in La Moncloa and Ferraz say the government cannot continue if its own partners reject its basic housing plans.
Inside PSOE, the question is when to call elections. Some senior officials want Sánchez to act immediately; others say he should wait to see how many people turn out for this weekend’s street protests. If the decrees fail, Sánchez could announce elections as soon as Monday, just before the party’s executive meets. November 29 is under consideration. Reuters reports that the basic vote on the housing decrees was set for October 2, 2026, and Junts’ opposition has made their passage unlikely. Reuters also reports that Junts holds just seven seats in the current legislature, but its votes are critical to maintaining the government’s parliamentary majority.
La Moncloa is trying to calm the situation. Officials insist there is no crisis cabinet and say the government is not yet preparing for the end of the legislature. “We need to see what happens inside the chamber and listen to the street. This is a deliberate exercise,” government sources say. Their message to Junts is blunt: “All Junts needs to do is abstain, there’s nothing more to discuss.” Several Spanish outlets report that the government wants to wait for the parliamentary vote before drawing final conclusions.
The stakes are high. The housing decrees are intended to stop evictions and extend rental contracts. If they are blocked, PSOE leaders believe they can turn the tables by blaming the right-wing opposition and Junts for stopping urgent social measures. The recent eviction of Maricarmen Abascal and the protest camp in Puerta del Sol have put housing at the center of the debate. Some regional leaders see this as the right time to go to the polls with a clear message. The first decree would ban evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030 and extend rent freezes for two more years. The second targets speculative buyers and so-called “vulture funds.” Reuters and other international sources reported these details.
Junts says it will vote against the decrees unless the government withdraws the current texts and presents new proposals. The party argues the measures could reduce housing supply and worsen market conditions. ARA reports that growing social protests and high-profile eviction cases have intensified the debate and heightened political sensitivity around housing in Spain.
Sánchez faces a tough choice. If PP, Vox and Junts join forces to defeat the decrees, the government’s authority in Congress will collapse. People close to the president now put the chance of Spain voting before year-end at 99%. The old plan to wait until 2027 is fading fast.
PSOE’s executive and regional leaders are fed up with Junts. They say the Catalan party has shown little generosity during the legislature, even after PSOE paid a political price for the amnesty law. “If the decrees fail, there’s no alternative but to call elections, and we could campaign on housing instead of Ceuta, which dominated the agenda just weeks ago,” one provincial mayor said.
Other regional leaders agree. They argue that public anger would fall on the Partido Popular, leaving the right weak if elections are called. The mood in Sánchez’s camp is tense. Close allies say he is “waiting to see if pressure makes them [Junts] yield.”
Sánchez entered Congress at 10:59, accompanied by ministers Félix Bolaños, Óscar López, Diana Morant and Sara Aagesen. The PSOE bench stood and applauded. But party spokesperson Patxi López refused to discuss early elections. He said the debate on the decrees would show “who stands for rights and who stands for the right.” He challenged Junts to choose between “those who defend rights or the vulture funds.”
PSC deputy José Zaragoza was even more blunt. He warned that Junts would be exposed if it failed to defend Catalan rights. Other PSOE deputies arriving at Congress admitted the timing was not ideal. Still, they said the party’s chances had improved since the Ceuta crisis left them cornered two weeks ago.
“Now we can set the pace. We have the initiative, and the public’s frustration is obvious. Spaniards have seen us propose solutions to the housing crisis, while others sabotage and ignore citizens’ demands,” said one early-rising deputy.
The housing fight has become a national story. The Puerta del Sol protest camp is now a symbol of the crisis, and the protest itself has become a political battleground. Madrid’s regional president has accused it of shielding Sánchez from defeat.
Everything now hinges on one vote and Junts’ next move. If the decrees are blocked, Sánchez will have little choice but to seek a new mandate. Housing will be the basic issue, ahead of border crises and amnesty. Governing with a razor-thin majority is risky. For PSOE, an election is more than a tactic: without control of the legislative agenda, the party is already losing power.
