In early October, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that the parliamentary elections would be brought forward to November 29. The decision came after the government's housing package, which was intended to help solve the country's ongoing housing crisis, was voted down.
With a month to go until the election, Spaniards woke up on Wednesday to news that two high-speed trains had collided 10 kilometers south of Madrid.
Heated election campaign
The Spanish government has paused all planned engagements on Wednesday due to the accident.
The election campaign is already very heated. The opposition will try to put this on the agenda as much as possible, says Thomas Gustafsson, who has written several books about Spain.
Now you can imagine that the right will try to shift attention away from dissatisfaction with the rental and housing market, says Thomas Gustafsson.
The focus will instead be on Wednesday's incident, which is the second high-speed train collision in Spain. The first occurred as recently as January this year, when around 45 people died in Adamuz, Andalusia. One train derailed and crashed into another train travelling from Malaga to Madrid.
Criticism awaits
Transport Minister Óscar Puente spoke out after Wednesday's accident.
"We are completely devastated," he said, according to Spanish Informativos Telecinco.
The opposition criticized the minister after the first accident in January.
People thought he took the previous accident too lightly - and now the criticism will be directed at him again, predicts Thomas Gustafsson.
