Spain’s political escape artist Pedro Sánchez has odds against him yet again in national election

By JOSEPH WILSON
Associated Press

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — After seeing his Socialists take a drubbing in local and regional elections in May, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stunned his buoyant rivals by bringing forward general elections from December to this Sunday. Most polling indicates the conservative Popular Party is set to win the ballot and be in position to form a coalition government with the far-right Vox party. It will be a tough challenge for Sánchez and his ability to pull off the unexpected. After mounting a grassroots insurgency to return to power as the Socialist party’s general secretary in 2017, one year later he led Spain’s first successful no-confidence motion to become prime minister. Now he needs to defy the odds all over again.