Spain’s Supreme Court keeps overseas voting restrictions in place for 29 November election

The decision, issued on Monday 12 October, maintains a precautionary suspension imposed in September while the court considers the underlying legal dispute. It covers both new registrations in the overseas electoral roll and the voting rights of affected citizens already registered. ALSO READ: Spain’s Supreme Court provisionally restricts voting rights for some descendants granted nationality under ‘grandchildren’s law’.

However, the restriction includes an exemption for those who can demonstrate that they are children or grandchildren of Spaniards who suffered exile for political or ideological reasons, or because of their beliefs or sexual orientation. It therefore does not amount to a blanket ban on every overseas voter who acquired nationality under the law.

The Supreme Court’s administrative litigation chamber rejected the State Attorney’s Office’s request to lift the suspension. One of the six judges issued a dissenting opinion. ALSO READ: Spanish prosecutors seek restoration of ‘grandchildren’s law’ voting rights before November election.

The court had accelerated proceedings following the announcement of the snap election, with insufficient time remaining to review the overseas electoral register before polling day.

Explaining its position, the court said the right to vote ‘is not an absolute right’ and was subject to broader public interests. These included ‘preserving the accuracy and absence of irregularities in the electoral register, which must prevail over the individual interest of the citizen’. 

Nationality and electoral registration

The ‘grandchildren’s law’ is the commonly used name for provisions in Spain’s 2022 Democratic Memory Law allowing eligible descendants of Spaniards to acquire Spanish nationality. Its beneficiaries include descendants of people who went into exile during the Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship. ALSO READ: Spain rules Franco regime ‘illegal’ with new ‘Democratic Memory Law’.

The dispute concerns an instruction implementing those provisions and the extent to which applicants must establish a connection to exile. The precautionary measures restrict electoral registration and voting; they do not revoke Spanish nationality. ALSO READ: Spain’s citizenship law for descendants abroad ignites election row.

In June, the government reported that more than half a million people had acquired nationality under the provisions. According to figures from the State Attorney’s Office cited by Spanish state broadcaster RTVE, 369,017 beneficiaries were registered in the overseas electoral census, known as CERA.

That broader registration figure should be distinguished from the number affected in this particular election. More recent information submitted by the government to the court puts the affected group on the register applicable to the 29 November ballot at 163,020 people.

The electoral register being used for the election has a reference date of 1 August. Citizens can consult it between 12 – 19 October, when they may also submit claims concerning omissions or errors.

Political dispute over the restrictions

The September suspension followed applications by the far-right Vox party and Iustitia Europa. The government, the public prosecutor’s office and the State Attorney’s Office had urged the court to lift it.

The right-wing opposition People’s Party (PP) has also criticised the nationality arrangements, accusing the government of ‘electoral engineering’ and ‘manufacturing voters’.

Socialist (PSOE) Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez challenged those accusations during a pre-election event on Sunday, urging the Supreme Court to stop what he described as the PP and Vox’s ‘attempt to trample on rights’.

‘Spain recognised their nationality and therefore their right to vote. They already voted in 2023, 2024 and 2025,’ Sánchez said.

He also questioned whether the restriction was constitutional and drew a comparison between descendants of those forced into exile and descendants of people associated with the dictatorship.

‘What does this mean, that the grandchildren of those exiled under Franco will not be able to vote, but the grandchildren of the Franco regime will?’ he asked.

Government examines Constitutional Court challenge

Speaking to journalists at the Royal Palace reception marking Spain’s National Day on Monday, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said the government would ask the State Attorney’s Office to examine whether the ruling on the precautionary measures could be treated as a final decision and therefore challenged before the Constitutional Court.

‘It seems the right to vote is not so important to some,’ he said.

For now, the Supreme Court’s restrictions remain in force ahead of the election, while the wider dispute over the implementation of the nationality provisions remains unresolved.