Spain’s Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo) on 8 September 2026 suspended the voting effect of entries in the Censo Electoral de Residentes Ausentes (CERA) for people who acquired nationality under the so-called Ley de nietos . Cases in which the ancestors’ exile is explicitly documented in consular registers are exempt. The chamber ruled under an expedited procedure and will provide its reasoning in written orders at a later date.
The move follows applications by the parties Iustitia Europa and Vox . They are challenging the “Presunción” in the Instrucción de 25 de octubre de 2022 of the Dirección General de Seguridad Jurídica y Fe Pública. This administrative instruction implements the Ley de Memoria Democrática of 19 October 2022 and provides for the children and grandchildren of Spaniards who left Spain between 18 July 1936 and 31 December 1955 to be able to acquire nationality through a simplified process. The substantive ruling on the case is still pending, beyond the interim relief decision.
The government in Madrid immediately rejected the decision. A spokesperson said after the cabinet meeting that it disagreed with the Tribunal Supremo and was considering steps to protect the voting rights of Spaniards living abroad. Opposition parties welcomed the suspension and called for clarification on how the 2022 administrative instruction had been applied. Judicial sources said the measure was a provisional safeguard for the electoral registers until the court clarified the legal framework conclusively.
In practice, the suspension affects both existing entries and new registrations in the CERA, unless separate evidence of the ancestors’ exile is provided. The latest published consular figures suggest that the Ley de nietos has prompted very high numbers of applications. According to media reports, the public prosecutor and the state’s legal representatives argued at the hearings against a blanket suspension, citing the need to protect voting rights.
Legally, this is a precautionary procedural measure: the Tribunal Supremo is separating the question of who acquires nationality under the Ley de Memoria Democrática from the question of whose registration currently carries voting rights. Politically, the decision intensifies the dispute between the executive and the judiciary over the interpretation of historically based eligibility rules and their administrative implementation. How long the suspension remains in force depends on the forthcoming substantive rulings; appeals by those affected and by the executive remain possible.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).