上个月在马德里发生的一位87岁老妇被驱逐事件，导致了佩德罗·桑切斯的政府陷入困境。这也为他提供了一个竞选纲领。
The eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid last month helped unravel Pedro Sánchez’s government. It also gave him an election platform.
西班牙首相佩德罗·桑切斯是欧洲顶尖的政治逃脱大师之一，在执政近十年后，他几个月来一直在徒劳地寻找继续掌权的途径。
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain, one of Europe’s premier political escape artists, had searched in vain for months for a route to remain in power after nearly a decade in office.
他曾试图通过将自己塑造为特朗普总统的制衡力量来团结左翼基础，在环境和伊朗战争等问题上与特朗普发生冲突。但桑切斯核心圈子内的丑闻不断将他拖下水。
He had tried to rally his left-wing base by presenting himself as a counterweight to President Trump, clashing with him on issues like the environment and the war in Iran. But scandals among Mr. Sánchez’ inner circle kept dragging him down.
他因给予超过一百万无证移民合法身份的途径而赢得了左翼的赞誉，他称这些人对经济的持续增长至关重要。但7月份8万名移民涌入西班牙在北非的飞地休达，使情况变得复杂，反而为保守派反对党注入了活力。
He won leftist plaudits for giving a pathway to legal status to more than a million undocumented people, whom he presented as critical to the economy’s continued growth. But a chaotic surge of 80,000 migrants in July into Ceuta, a Spanish exclave in North Africa, muddied that picture and instead gave the conservative opposition a shot of energy.
因此，当包括许多保守派在内的西班牙议员周五否决了桑切斯提出的深受左翼西班牙人欢迎的紧急租房者保护提案时，他抓住了这次失败作为重获政治主动权的机会。
So when Spanish lawmakers, including many conservatives, rejected Mr. Sánchez’ proposal on Friday for emergency renter protections popular with left-wing Spaniards, he seized on the defeat as an opportunity to regain the political initiative.
他解散了连续第三届政府，宣布于11月29日提前举行大选，并在周一上午的全国电视讲话中将这场竞选定义为“倒退还是继续前进”的选择。这些旨在将驱逐禁令延长至2030年的住房保护措施，是为了回应上个月马德里一名87岁老妇被驱逐引发的公众愤怒。桑切斯的少数派联合政府缺乏足够的议员来单独通过该法案。通过就此问题进行投票，桑切斯希望给左翼西班牙人一个让他重掌权力的理由，并争取获得多数席位。
He pulled the plug on his third consecutive government, called for early elections on Nov. 29 and, in a nationally televised speech Monday morning, framed the contest as a choice “to move backward or to keep moving forward.”The housing protections, which would have suspended evictions until 2030, were made in response to public outrage over the eviction last month of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid. Mr. Sánchez’ minority coalition government lacked enough lawmakers to pass it on its own. By going to the polls over the issue, Mr. Sánchez hoped to give left-wing Spaniards a reason to return him power, this time with a majority.