As election nears, Spain's Sanchez struggles to rally disillusioned left

MADRID, Nov 13 - When Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called a snap election last month, he was betting that anger over housing and fear of the far right would rally all shades of the left behind his Socialists.

But interviews and polls suggest that many potential supporters are too furious about the status quo and the perceived failings of his own incumbent government to oblige.

The eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal in September, and her subsequent death, triggered protests against a housing crisis that culminated in a general strike which unions said brought more than 3 million on to the streets on Wednesday.

"Every generation has its own struggle — for us, that struggle is housing," Sanchez said at his first rally after calling the vote.

His challenge as he prepares to face the electorate on November 29 is that the protests led by movements even further to his left have moved well beyond accommodation.

'WE'RE REALLY TIRED OF SO MANY THINGS'

"We're really tired of so many things," said Maria Torrena Perez, a 40-year-old primary school teacher at a march in Madrid on Wednesday night.

"We need decent housing. We need a quality public education system. We need a decent healthcare system. Ultimately, they're not investing in what they should be investing in. And we're fed up with the policies being implemented across the board."

Two deadly train crashes, corruption convictions in Sanchez's inner circle and a rush of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta have all taken their toll on Sanchez's support.

For all his campaigning, polls show backing for his party is still hovering around the 26%-29% level recorded before he called the election.

Without a shift in the next two weeks, an alliance between the conservative People's Party and far-right Vox, a hardline nationalist party championing tighter borders and deregulation, is seen as the most likely next government.

Interviews with left-of-centre politicians, activists and voters suggested that for many, disillusionment with the status quo outweighs the urge to keep the far right out.

The "lesser evil" pitch of a centrist government standing between them and an ever-harder right is wearing thin, echoing discontent with incumbents that has spilled into social unrest across Europe in recent months.

Sanchez has branded the prospect of a PP-Vox government a threat to social rights won in recent decades, describing a coalition of the two parties in a recent campaign video as "two colours, one project of regression".

Some have turned that against him. Sanchez's "self-styled progressive government is a government of slower regression," said Mario Aguiriano, spokesperson for the Socialist Movement popular among students which gained prominence in Spain's protest encampments.

"Is the enemy who kills you slowly with poison preferable to the enemy who kills you with a chainsaw?"

Sanchez's Socialist Party "plays in elections and campaigns at being the Che Guevara of the left — but progressive voters aren't going to be fooled," Tesh Sidi, a lawmaker left of Sanchez, said as she explained why voters should choose her "Broad Front" party over their senior partners in the government coalition.

'VOTING ISN'T ENOUGH'

The breakdown of talks last month among Spain's left-of-centre parties to form a united platform means disgruntled leftist voters face a choice between sticking with the Socialists, abstaining, or voting for a smaller party that might end up letting the right in.

Many — emboldened by the scale and impact of street protests in Spain and across Europe, from Serbia to neighbouring Portugal — have suggested that electoral politics may no longer be the best way to get change.

"Voting isn't enough," said Alicia del Rio, spokesperson for the Tenants Union which called Wednesday's general strike.

It was vital not to "hand fascism a seat" but voting was just one way to make a difference.

"No matter who governs, there needs to be popular power pushing our agenda forward," she told reporters at a briefing earlier this month, vowing that the movement would ensure housing remained the main issue in the campaign.

'ALL ON RED'

On the campaign trail, Sanchez has deployed the roulette-table phrase "all on red" to appeal for tactical votes for his party in provinces which have just a handful of seats, where Spain's electoral system disadvantages smaller parties.

With more than a million voters still undecided, just four in five left-leaning Spaniards backing the Socialists in small provinces could turn things around, political consultant Ivan Redondo, a former campaign strategist for Sanchez, told reporters.

Meanwhile, the political landscape keeps shifting. Vox is attracting some disillusioned left-wing voters with its narratives of defending hard work and protecting Spanish culture, Paco Camas from pollster Ipsos said.

Other movements have decided the best place to be is in opposition.

Podemos ("We Can") — which at the height of its popularity in 2015 attracted over a quarter of voters but whose support has dropped to just 1.9% in most recent polls — refused to join the new "Broad Front" or consider an alliance with the incumbents.

The Socialists "will swallow you up if they get the chance," said the party's lead candidate, Irene Montero. REUTERS