Spanish Supreme Court Suspends Voting Rights for Some Naturalized Citizens Under Grandchildren Law

The Supreme Court of Spain has issued a precautionary measure suspending the registration in the electoral census for individuals who obtained Spanish nationality through the so called grandchildren law. This decision prevents these individuals from voting in upcoming elections unless they can provide a specific certification from Consular Registries proving they are descendants of exiles who left Spain for political, ideological, religious, or sexual orientation reasons. The measure affects both those currently processing their registration in the Census of Absent Residents Abroad and those already registered under this law.

The ruling follows a request by the party Vox and Iustitia Europa to suspend registrations until a final judgment on the merits of the case is reached. While the measure halts the right to vote, it does not affect the actual granting of nationality. The Fiscalía and the Abogacía del Estado opposed the suspension, arguing that the electoral office should not be tasked with qualifying legal acts like nationality, which is a prerequisite for the right to suffrage.

Center left sources frame the event as a conflict between the judiciary and the executive, describing the court's action as a provocation and a result of conspiracy theories regarding electoral engineering. These sources highlight the bureaucratic difficulty of the certification process and suggest the ruling creates two categories of citizenship.