General election on 29 November: what is at stake for Marina Alta

Election on 29 November

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced on Monday in an institutional statement from the Palacio de la Moncloa the calling of a general election for Sunday 29 November. The decision comes after a weekend of reflection following Congress's rejection on Friday of two royal decrees with which the Government intended to respond to the housing crisis.

Sánchez announced an extraordinary Council of Ministers to begin the dissolution of the Cortes. The election decree must be published in the Official State Gazette, and the vote takes place 54 days after that publication.

The timetable

If the calling is published in the Official State Gazette on Tuesday 6 October, the deadlines are as follows:

• 6 October: publication of the calling and dissolution of the Cortes.
• 21 to 26 October: submission of candidacies.
• 29 November: election day.

Housing, in the background

Housing will, in all likelihood, be the main theme of the campaign. According to institutional sources, the Government's intention was to recover the repealed texts and approve a new housing decree that could be ratified in the Standing Committee of Congress, the body that functions while the Cortes are dissolved.

It is an especially sensitive matter in Marina Alta, where buying a home in Xàbia already requires 69% of the available income of an average household and where the rejection of the decrees had a double reading: relief for the tourism sector and holiday let owners, and uncertainty for tenants.

Twelve seats at stake in Alicante

The province of Alicante elects 12 deputies to Congress. In the July 2023 election, the PP won five, the PSOE four, Vox two and Sumar-Compromís one. The last seat went to the PP, in dispute with Sumar-Compromís, which leaves the constituency open to small shifts in voting.

Marina Alta showed a divided map at that time: the PSOE was the most voted force in Dénia, Ondara and Pego, while the PP won in Xàbia and Gata de Gorgos and held its strongholds of Benissa and Teulada.

European residents, without a vote

General elections have a particular feature that affects the comarca directly. Only citizens with Spanish nationality can vote. Residents from other European Union countries, who do vote in municipal and European elections, have no right to vote in general elections, nor do British residents and other foreign residents. In municipalities with a high proportion of foreign residents, such as Xàbia, Teulada-Moraira or Calp, a significant part of the population will be left out of the decision.

What remains in the air

The dissolution of the Cortes and the change in the political cycle leave several matters of state competence with direct impact on the comarca pending:

• Housing and holiday lets. With the rejection of the decrees, measures disappeared, among others, the 2% cap on rent increases and VAT on holiday lets. Their future will depend on what the Government does in the coming weeks and on the election result.
• Coastal boundary disputes. The reform of the Coastal Regulations demanded by the Generalitat and the Town Hall of Dénia, with thousands of affected owners in Les Marines, remains at the mercy of the new Government.
• The coast train. The rail connection between Dénia and Gandia, which depends on the Ministry of Transport, remains without a defined timetable.
• Pending initiatives. With the dissolution, draft laws and proposed bills that have not been approved lapse, such as the proposal to tax at 100% the purchase of housing by non-residents from outside the EU, which especially affected British buyers in the comarca.