The leader of Spain’s conservative opposition, who tops most polls, began campaigning for November’s snap election in Ceuta on Wednesday vowing to prioritise the city mired in a migration crisis.
The tiny territory in north Africa has occupied a central place in Spanish politics after more than 70,000 migrants entered from neighbouring Morocco in an unprecedented, deadly rush on July 30-31.
Although most returned in the following hours, thousands have remained for weeks in often dire conditions, sleeping rough in the streets or on the beach.
The crisis has eroded the popularity of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez — a global leftist hero for his clashes with US President Donald Trump and Israel — as it drags on before the November 29 general election.
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Many of the city’s roughly 84,000 inhabitants accuse Sánchez’s government of abandoning them and regularly protest to demand a swifter expulsion of the migrants.
The head of the conservative Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, said he chose Ceuta as “the explicit expression of a pledge” to restore “normality” to the city.
“Ceuta is not the exception to this chapter we are leaving behind. It’s the symptom of the decay, corruption and lies into which the nation has sunk,” said Feijóo.
Renewing attacks on Sánchez for his handling of the crisis, Feijóo said Ceuta “will be the first folder on the table” if he took power.
The leftist coalition government said it was obliged to check whether each person is entitled to asylum before returning them to Morocco, while hundreds of unaccompanied children from the rush cannot be summarily deported.
It has ramped up the number of places in temporary shelters, police, troops and civil servants to help alleviate the humanitarian situation and accelerate the examination of each migrant’s case.
On October 13, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are due to make a diplomatically sensitive visit to Ceuta, which Morocco claims alongside Spain’s other north African territory of Melilla.
The election was originally due in 2027, but Sánchez brought it forward on Monday after his minority government failed to pass urgent laws aimed at placating nationwide housing protests.
Sparked by the eviction of an 87-year-old Madrid pensioner from her life-long home last month, the protests have eclipsed Ceuta as the dominant topic of political debate.
The election campaign officially begins on November 13.
