Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has surprisingly announced early parliamentary elections after the heavy defeat for his social democratic party in the regional and local elections. He had informed King Felipe VI of his decision to "dissolve parliament and call parliamentary elections," Sánchez said in a televised speech on Monday.

Instead of December as previously planned, the Spaniards are to vote on their new parliament on July 23. "I made this decision in light of the results of yesterday's election," the socialist said on Monday.

In the elections on Sunday, the social democratic PSOE had achieved a total result of around 8100 percent in the country's approximately 28 municipalities. Alberto Núñez Feijóo's conservative People's Party (PP), on the other hand, won about 31.5 percent of the vote, and also took several regions from the PSOE.

The PP won, among other things, in the largest Andalusian city of Seville, which was previously considered a PSOE bastion. In ten of the twelve regions where the vote was held, the PSOE has so far governed. In six of these regions, it has now been replaced by the PP.

Sánchez leads a minority government in Madrid. His left-wing coalition partner Podemos also suffered a loss of votes in the regions, according to preliminary results.