The Pedro Sanchez election campaign got under way with a rally in the south of Spain, where the prime minister put housing at the heart of his pitch and paid tribute to the pensioner whose eviction became the symbol of the country's rent crisis.

A launch town with history

Sanchez chose Dos Hermanas, a commuter town outside Seville and a historic Socialist stronghold, to open his bid for the snap election. The town has marked his career before: he launched his 2023 campaign there and defied predictions by staying in office even though the conservative Popular Party won more seats. It was also where his political resurrection began, after he resigned as Socialist leader in 2016 following two bruising general election defeats.

The stakes this time look higher. Sanchez has led the country since 2018 but remains a divisive figure at home, trailing in most polls to the Popular Party. Abroad, his clashes with US President Donald Trump and Israel have given him international prominence.

Housing at the centre of the campaign

The vote was brought forward from an election scheduled for 2027 as a deepening housing crisis drives protests and pressures Sanchez's left-wing coalition. The eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old Madrid pensioner, two weeks before the launch made her the face of that crisis and catalysed nationwide protests that pushed the coalition to present urgent decrees.

At the rally, Sanchez vowed to strengthen legislation protecting tenants against real estate speculation if his party wins an absolute majority. He also honoured Abascal, who died in hospital on Wednesday, quoting her and her campaigners as having shown the way and voicing his affection for her.

Among his supporters in the crowd, 67-year-old pensioner Isabel Morales called his term very positive, saying: "He raised wages, raised pensions, enacted a housing law, a lot of things that are extremely positive."

Feijoo counters in Madrid

Popular Party leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo rallied his own followers in Madrid on the same day, seeking the premiership after failing to form a government in 2023. He told the crowd that "Spain needs a future and he (Sanchez) needs to be in the past. We are proposing a total change."

Feijoo, who tops most polls, had campaigned on migration earlier in the week, criticising the government's handling of the crisis in Ceuta, where he held an event on Wednesday promising to restore normality.

• •More than 70,000 migrants entered the Spanish north African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco in late July
• •Thousands have remained there for months in largely chaotic conditions, angering locals
• •Polls suggest Feijoo is unlikely to win a majority outright
• •That could make far-right Vox, parliament's third-largest force, a kingmaker in coalition talks

At his rally, 31-year-old public-sector worker Ruben Moscoso argued Feijoo deserves a chance, saying: "We want to pull our country out of the ruin, the corruption, the shady practices that we've been seeing recently."

Protests and a strike on the calendar

The rallies did not go unchallenged. Hundreds of protesters camped in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square and in other cities during both events, demanding stronger tenant protection and affordable prices.

Spain's main unions have called a general strike for November 11, the first such stoppage since 2012, to raise pressure over housing and wages in the final days before the November vote.