The Spanish government has announced that it will implement the decision of the Tribunal Supremo concerning the so-called Ley de nietos but warns of significant practical obstacles in the run-up to the elections on 29 November 2026. According to the government, the measure affects 163,020 people who are or should be registered in the Censo Electoral de Residentes Ausentes (CERA). The Presidency Moncloa says the order will be followed, but that the situation is of “extraordinary seriousness”, as identifying those affected within a short time frame is “extremely complex”.
The Tribunal Supremo had already provisionally suspended, in September, the registration of certain new citizens who obtained nationality under the Ley de memoria democrática through the so-called Ley de nietos. The court has now rejected the Abogacía del Estado application to lift the measure; an attempt by the Fiscalía to ease it also failed. The decision to maintain the suspension was communicated to the parties on Monday. Those affected include both people who have not yet been entered in the overseas register and those already listed in the CERA.
Government sources point to administrative bottlenecks, particularly in consulates handling large numbers of cases, such as in Argentina and Cuba. Many records do not clearly state the legal route by which citizenship was acquired; separating entries by grounds for acquisition would require time-consuming file checks. Against this background, Moncloa considers a complete clean-up of the CERA by 29 November “very difficult”.
The government also criticises the impact of the court order on the voting rights of Spanish nationals abroad. In its view, maintaining the precautionary measure restricts the voting rights of a large proportion of newly naturalised citizens. Opposition parties, however, are calling for transparency about the underlying data and a swift, legally compliant correction of the overseas register.
The legal dispute centres on whether the expanded routes to citizenship under the Ley de memoria democrática were adequately reviewed in view of forthcoming election dates. The Supremo is keeping the provisional suspension in place until it has ruled on key objections to the substance of the case. The government is examining organisational options for implementing the order and rules out taking independent steps against the decision. How quickly consular and central register checks can be carried out remains unclear for now.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).