Spain's general strike draws uneven turnout as 29N campaign opens from midnight

A strike that followed an eviction

Spain held a general strike on Wednesday, 11 November, the first nationwide one called while an election was already set, and the first large mobilisation in 14 years. Unions CCOO and UGT, together with groups including the Sindicato de Inquilinas, backed the action, which demanded the right to housing and decent wages. The trigger was the eviction of a tenant, and the protest combined that case with wider demands on housing and pay. The march in Madrid was led by the organising groups, and large demonstrations were held elsewhere. Early assessments of how well the strike was followed were mixed, and the strike has turned into a clash between the government and the opposition, with around a hundred arrests recorded across Spain.

Feijóo ties the Urda accident to public spending

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the Partido Popular, appeared on the Antena 3 programme El Hormiguero on the day of the strike. There he linked corruption cases that courts are investigating over public contracts with the condition of the high-speed line between Andalusia and Madrid. He said the Urda accident was avoidable and argued that a line-by-line inspection of the track, especially after the Adamuz incident, would have prevented it.

“This one could have been avoided.”

If he wins the 29 November vote, he pledged to audit public spending and infrastructure and to draw up two state budgets, for 2027 and 2028. He also said pensions would keep rising with the consumer price index, adding:

“The updating of pensions is sacred.”

He said he would call elections if the budget were rejected, but the Constitution bars a new vote in the first year after the Cortes were dissolved on 5 October 2026, unless no investiture is achieved.

Campaign opens with four leaders in different cities

The campaign for the 29 November election starts at midnight on Thursday, 12 November, and runs for two weeks. Pedro Sánchez, head of the government, opens in Seville, while Feijóo starts in Badalona. Santiago Abascal, the Vox president, and Ada Colau, candidate for Frente Amplio, chose Madrid for their launch. During the two weeks, the parties will travel to different cities to ask for votes at public events. The Academia de Televisión is organising the debates, and a face-off between Sánchez and Feijóo is expected alongside a four-way debate that would include Abascal and Colau, though dates are not yet fixed.

Seat model and polls

The EL PAÍS model simulates the election 20,000 times, using polls published up to 9 November. It classifies 153 seats as safe (99% probability), 150 as probable (75% to 99%) and 97 as in play (25% to 75%). These groups add up to more than 350 because several parties compete for the same seats. Madrid has the most seats in play with ten, followed by Barcelona with nine. In Lleida, which has four seats, five parties are fighting for the last two: Junts, PP, PSOE, ERC and Vox.

Safe (99%)153

Probable (75% to 99%)150

In play (25% to 75%)97

Safe (99%)

153 seats

Probable (75% to 99%)

150 seats

In play (25% to 75%)

97 seats

Data from the article text

In the poll average, the PSOE has cut its gap with the PP from six points to four, and a 40dB poll leaves the two parties just two points apart. The model does not rely on polls for each province, because surveys of a few thousand interviews are too small for that. It instead uses each party's historical vote in every province and CIS microdata, which the authors say contain tens of thousands of interviews.