Can Sánchez convince Spanish voters he is their best hope for fairer housing?
Recent death of 87-year-old woman likely to focus attention on crisis in run-up to election at end of November
Even before Maria del Carmen Abascal died on Wednesday night, a mere fortnight after her eviction from the Madrid flat where she had lived for most of her life, the frail 87-year-old woman had become the enduring face of Spain's housing crisis.
Her plight - and the wider issue it embodied - had led to street demonstrations, the creation of a protest camp in the middle of the Spanish capital, and spurred the socialist-led government to propose emergency measures to facilitate and protect access to housing. When rightwing and far-right parties voted down those measures in congress last week, the prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, responded by announcing a snap general election for the end of November.
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