The Abogacía del Estado has informed the Tribunal Supremo in writing on 3 November 2026 that extending the precautionary voting ban already imposed to the children of people naturalised under the so-called Ley de nietos would not be practically feasible in the current electoral process. The state legal service cites the lack of time before the parliamentary election on 29 November 2026, incomplete identification data and limited staff and material resources, particularly at consulates.
The objection concerns applications by the party Vox and the group Iustitia Europa, which had asked for the court-ordered interim measure to be extended. According to the Abogacía del Estado, extending it at short notice would create legal uncertainty for those affected and the authorities, jeopardise procedural safeguards and disrupt the proper conduct of the election. The government also says it is currently impossible to compile a complete, reliable list of potentially affected children.
The dispute stems from a decision by Section Four of the Sala de lo Contencioso-Administrativo of the Tribunal Supremo, which has provisionally suspended the voting rights, in the forthcoming election, of people who recently acquired Spanish nationality under the expanded descent rules of the Ley de memoria democrática (colloquially known as the Ley de nietos). At the end of October, the executive submitted a list of the naturalised citizens concerned to the court. Reports give varying figures for the exact number of cases; they agree only that the number is large.
The court has set short deadlines for the parties to submit their views. No decision has yet been made on whether the ban will be extended to the children. The Abogacía del Estado argues that such an extension would currently be problematic not only logistically but also from a rule-of-law perspective, as it would have to be made without adequate examination of individual cases.
At the same time, the applicants say they will pursue their request. If the judges extend the ban to descendants, constitutional issues are likely to be central, including the principle of equal treatment and the limits on precautionary restrictions of the active right to vote. If the Tribunal Supremo agrees with the government’s position, the children of people naturalised under the Ley de nietos will be able to vote as planned, while the registrations already suspended for the main group concerned will remain unaffected until the main proceedings are examined.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).