Zapatero calls Spanish election in November

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero has called new general elections for 20 November, four months early.

Reuters

Zapatero says he is calling for early elections because the government has to put the economy back on the road to recovery,

The announcement came as the international rating agency, Moody's, threatened to downgrade Spain 's debt rating.

Official data also show that the jobless rate remains the highest in the industrialised world.

The government does not have to go to the country before March 2012.

But the Socialists were crushed in local and regional elections in May. And the right-wing opposition Popular Party has been pressing for the early poll.

Zapatero promised that he would not seek a third term as Socialist leader.

The party has chosen former interior minister, Alfredo Rubalcaba, to replace him.

The Spanish press reports that the Socialist Party members also want the early poll.