Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez has resigned, dissolving parliament and calling early elections after yesterday's administrative defeat.

The decision taken by Sánchez, leader of the socialist government, came as a bolt from the blue.

"I will be brief and I will also try to be very clear," said the Spanish prime minister at the beginning of an institutional declaration announced only an hour earlier. "I just had a meeting with His Majesty the King, during which I communicated to the head of state the decision to convene a Council of Ministers this afternoon to dissolve the Courts and call general elections," he added.

The political elections will be held on July 23, when the Spanish semester of presidency of the European Union has just begun.

The Spanish socialists and their allies are recovering from a double defeat in the local elections: the bloc of conservative parties (Popular Party and Vox ) has in fact obtained the majority in both Valencia and Seville , tearing both cities away from the left.

(Unioneonline/lf)

© Riproduzione riservata