Spanish prime minister calls early general election after battering in regional vote

By CIARÁN GILES and JENNIFER O’MAHONY
Associated Press

MADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called an early general election for July 23 in a surprise move after his Socialist party took a serious battering in local and regional elections. Sánchez had previously insisted that he would ride out his four-year term with leftist government coalition partner United We Can. That indicated that an election would be held in December. The woes for Sánchez and his PSOE party come as Spain is due to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union on July 1. Sánchez said that he had spoken to King Felipe VI and would hold a special Cabinet meeting later Monday to dissolve parliament.