The PSC federation for the Lleida, Pirineu and Aran districts chose Montse Mínguez, spokesperson of the PSOE, on Wednesday in Alcarràs to head its list for Congress in the general election of 29 November. The vote was unanimous, according to La Mañana. It came on the same day the PP accused her of being a «hipócrita» (hypocrite) for defending rent regulation while her partner, businessman Sergi Vélez, owns companies that rent out several dozen flats in Lleida, as reported by Artículo 14 and picked up by El País.

The PSC’s National Council must ratify the candidacy this Friday, according to El País. The mayor of Cervera, Jan Pomés, will head the list for the Senate.

What Artículo 14 published

The Artículo 14 report, published on Tuesday, revealed that Vélez has a series of companies renting out several dozen flats in Lleida, the Socialist spokesperson’s home city, according to El País. La Mañana puts the business at around thirty rental flats and adds that, according to Artículo 14, there would have been at least one eviction.

Mínguez identified her partner’s company as Nest Capital. She told Antena 3’s Espejo Público that it is a family company devoted to renting that complies with the law, including the housing law being applied in Catalonia, according to El País. She added that her party is not against companies or property owners.

The Minister for Digital Transformation, Óscar López, argued that the housing debate should focus on which parties defend that right rather than on singling out someone engaged in a lawful activity, according to La Mañana. López was asked at a Cinco Días forum about another report, by El Español, according to which Mínguez’s partner would have two companies in Panama within his family’s business group. In that answer, López said that Vélez is engaged in a lawful activity and complies with the law. The PSOE, for its part, stressed in a statement that «la pareja de Montse Mínguez no tiene empresas en Panamá, ni Polonia, ni Brasil» (Montse Mínguez’s partner has no companies in Panama, Poland or Brazil), according to El País.

The PP: «Haz lo que digo, no lo que hago»

The PP made the matter the centrepiece of its pre-campaign on Wednesday, according to El País. From its official X account it demanded a serious, in-depth debate on housing policy with the PSOE spokesperson, Montse Mínguez, «or with her husband, we don’t mind», alongside a logo imitating the colours and typeface of the property portal idealista.

When Mínguez asked people to vote on 29 November «con V de vivienda» (with V for housing), the PP replied: «Socialismo con S de Sergi y sus desahucios» (Socialism with S for Sergi and his evictions). The party later released a video showing a banner hung from a building with the slogan «Haz lo que digo, no lo que hago, hipócritas» (Do as I say, not as I do, hypocrites) and the image of a vulture, and another message with a still of Pedro Sánchez saying that the husband of his spokesperson runs a company with 30 flats, according to the same newspaper. Many PP deputies, officials and accounts joined in with comments and jokes about the Socialist deputy’s partner as a large property holder.

The PP spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, accused the PSOE of hypocrisy and inconsistency for defending regulation of the housing market while its spokesperson’s partner works in property, according to La Mañana. PP sources quoted by the same newspaper noted that, by the same reasoning, Urbagestión, the company that owned Maricarmen’s flat, was also engaged in a lawful activity.

Mínguez’s and the PSOE’s defence

Mínguez called the report a personal attack. She said personal attacks are the worst thing in politics, that the claims are a lie, that it is a family company that does things properly and that the housing law is being complied with in Catalonia, according to El País. The spokesperson argued that the PP offensive is meant to cover up the fact that it voted against the government’s housing decrees.

Sources close to the spokesperson told El País that the company’s activity is «totalmente independiente» (completely independent) of her political responsibilities and that the firm, family-owned and legal, is subject in Catalonia to the housing law, reference prices and the rules for stressed rental areas. According to the same sources, it has never evicted vulnerable people.

The PSOE backed its spokesperson, saying there was nothing to hide or explain because what matters is how Montse Mínguez has voted in Parliament, always in favour of decent and affordable housing, according to El País. The party added that people who comply with the law and carry out a lawful activity cannot be persecuted.

Sánchez keeps her

On Thursday, before attending the European Council, Pedro Sánchez said he «per descomptat» (of course) maintains his confidence in Mínguez, according to La Mañana. Sánchez said he did not know about Vélez’s professional activities and expressed surprise that the PP wants to open a debate on housing after what has emerged about the penthouse of the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. He asked the PP to vote for the housing decrees when they are debated in the Standing Committee of Congress.

Rents capped until July

According to El País, Lleida kept rents capped in recent years, until last July, as a stressed rental area. Mínguez has argued that her partner’s company complies with those rules. None of the sources cited states at what price the company rents its flats or in which Lleida neighbourhoods they are.

The candidate

Mínguez was born in Lleida in 1976 and studied Business Administration at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, according to El Confidencial. She was a PSC councillor at the Paeria from 2003 and deputy mayor from 2007, in charge of economic affairs, human resources and local government, until 2019. Before leaving the Paeria she sought to be the Socialist mayoral candidate, but Fèlix Larrosa was chosen. She then headed the PSC list for Lleida and won a seat in Congress. According to El País, she has been in politics for 25 years.

In the PSOE she has sat on the Federal Executive Committee since 2021, has been general secretary of the Socialist Group in Congress since 2023 and in 2025 temporarily took over the Organisation Secretariat after the departure of Santos Cerdán, as well as becoming party spokesperson, according to the same outlet. Since June she has been in charge of the Studies and Programmes Secretariat.

On being chosen, Mínguez said she heads the list «amb el cap ben alt» (with her head held high) and called for a progressive, left-wing majority, according to La Mañana. The Congress list is completed by Amador Marqués, Lorena González and Xavier Oriol. The federation’s first secretary and Catalan agriculture minister, Òscar Ordeig, called for mobilisation so as not to lose social gains and described the election as historic, according to El País. Mínguez urged people not to get used to bad politics, the politics of headlines, fake news, criticism, lies and injustice, according to the same newspaper. That same day, the PSC federation in Tarragona proposed the manager of the Joan XXIII Hospital, Ione Montalvo, to head its list.

Housing, the top concern

The Centre d’Estudis d’Opinió barometer published on Wednesday puts access to housing as the main problem for 30% of Catalans, compared with 11% who name immigration, according to La Mañana. Among Vox sympathisers, immigration is the top concern, at 39%; housing is the main issue for only 12%. The survey was carried out between 1 September and 5 October, before Maricarmen’s eviction in Madrid and the calling of the election.

The 30% is close to the peak of 32% recorded in October 2025, and housing has been the top concern in CEO barometers for two years. Among Catalans aged 25 to 34, 42% put it first; among those aged 18 to 24, 36%. Junts and PP voters also put it first, but with the lowest percentages: 19% and 18% respectively, according to La Mañana.

What is not on record

None of the sources cited states how many evictions Vélez’s company may have carried out, against whom, or the exact number of flats it manages. Nor is the shareholding of Nest Capital on record, or whether Mínguez holds a stake in it.

Sources and verification

Information based on El País, 14 October 2026; El País, 15 October 2026; La Mañana, 15 October 2026; La Mañana, 15 October 2026; El Confidencial, 14 October 2026; and La Mañana, 14 October 2026. It has not been possible to consult the original reports by Artículo 14 or El Español. Mínguez and the PSOE were not contacted before publication.