PEDRO SÁNCHEZ’S talent for bold ventures(大胆冒险之举) has helped him survive for eight years as prime minister atop minority governments(在少数派政府之上). But his decision on October 5th to call an election for November 29th, months before it was due, is a last-ditch(背水一搏的) gamble. He hopes to capitalise on(利用、从中获利) indignation over an elderly woman’s eviction from her home—a symbol of Spain’s housing crisis(西班牙住房危机). Mr Sánchez, the last important standard-bearer(旗手、领军人物) of the left in the European Union, has framed the election in populist terms(以民粹主义话语包装选举), as a contest between affordable housing and the privileges of right-wing elites. That will be a challenge: for more than a year, opinion polls have put the right-wing opposition well ahead.
佩德罗·桑切斯敢于冒险的天赋，让他在少数派政府之上当了八年首相而屹立不倒。但他在10月5日决定把原定数月之后举行的大选提前到11月29日，却是一场背水一搏。他希望能借一位老妇被逐出住所所激起的民愤——这是西班牙住房危机的一个象征——为己所用。作为欧盟左翼最后一位重要旗手，桑切斯把这场选举包装成民粹主义叙事：可负担住房与右翼精英特权之间的对决。这将是一场硬仗：一年多来，民调一直显示右翼反对派大幅领先。
The prime minister has been on the defensive(处于守势) for months. His government mishandled(处置失当) a migrant surge from Morocco into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta(休达（西班牙在北非的飞地）) in July. Leaders of his Socialist Party have been charged with corruption; his wife faces trial for influence-peddling(以权谋私、权钱交易) (she and he insist on her innocence). But the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old who left her home of 71 years on September 23rd (and died in hospital on October 7th), let him change the subject(转移话题). With leftist protesters camped out in Madrid, Mr Sánchez dusted off(重新拾起、翻出) an emergency-housing decree(法令、政令) from earlier this year. This would temporarily have banned evictions of “vulnerable” people, extended rental contracts and barred(禁止) corporate landlords from buying properties at below-market prices.
数月来，这位首相一直处于守势。今年7月，他的政府对从摩洛哥涌入西班牙飞地休达的移民潮处置失当。他所在的社会党多名领导人被控腐败；他的妻子因以权谋私而面临审判（她和他都坚称她清白）。但87岁的玛丽卡门·阿瓦斯卡尔被逐出住所一事——她9月23日离开了居住71年的家，10月7日在医院去世——让他得以转移话题。趁左翼抗议者在马德里扎营之际，桑切斯重新拾起今年早些时候的一项紧急住房法令。该法令本可暂时禁止驱逐“弱势”人群、延长租赁合同，并禁止企业房东以低于市场的价格购房。
This approach to housing, favoured by the global left from Berlin to New York, protects existing tenants(租户) but leads to falls in the supply of rented property. The decree was rejected in parliament on October 2nd when Junts(加泰罗尼亚民族主义政党“一起为了加泰罗尼亚”), a Catalan nationalist party, joined other right-wing parties to vote it down(投票否决). Mr Sánchez had lost the fickle(反复无常的) majority he had cobbled together(勉强拼凑) among the left and regional nationalists.
这种住房政策受到从柏林到纽约的全球左翼青睐，它保护现有租户，却导致租赁房源供给减少。10月2日，加泰罗尼亚民族主义政党Junts联合其他右翼政党投票否决了该法令。桑切斯此前在左翼与地方民族主义政党之间勉强拼凑起来的、反复无常的多数优势，就此丧失。
