The Spanish government says it is unable to comply with the latest ruling by the Tribunal Supremo on Ley de nietos within the set deadline. According to consistent accounts from the Ministry of Justice and electoral authorities, more than 160,000 entries would have to be checked against the electoral register. Around 76,000 are held in the Registro Civil Electrónico and can be searched electronically, while around 80,000 files are archived only in paper form at consulates and would have to be reviewed individually by hand.
The Tribunal Supremo ruling requires entries to be separated according to whether those concerned submitted, when obtaining citizenship under the Ley de nietos, documents proving their ancestors’ exile. Anyone who did not provide this evidence is to be provisionally excluded from the electoral register. The main group affected is the Censo Electoral de Residentes Ausentes, whose sharp increase since the rule came into force could, according to the judges, undermine the transparency of the electoral process. The Abogacía del Estado while the Ministry of Justice, by contrast, points to the practical impossibility of reviewing files from dozens of overseas missions in a short time without disproportionately restricting the exercise of the right to vote.
Organisationally, the uneven state of the files makes the required separation difficult: while digitally recorded cases can be filtered by the supporting documents on file, many consulates lack structured metadata. Administratively, judicial deadlines clash with the electoral calendar. According to information from Oficina del Censo Electoral and the Instituto Nacional de Estadística certificates from overseas missions that have been verified across the board and would allow the Censo Electoral to be updated in a differentiated way are not yet available.
The Junta Electoral is, according to sources in government circles, examining procedures to follow the Tribunal Supremo’s requirements as closely as possible while also creating legally sound interim solutions. Options under consideration include technical spot checks, additional declarations from those affected and phased correction runs, provided consular evidence is submitted later. Whether, and to what extent, such steps would stand up legally in the short term remains unclear and depends on further court decisions.
One thing is clear: without rapid, reliable data from the consulates, delays and subsequent challenges to register decisions are likely. The government insists that the electoral process must be protected and errors avoided; the Tribunal Supremo is demanding an immediate identification of eligible voters. The next steps and any deadlines will be negotiated between the Justice Ministry, the electoral administration and other ministries in the coming days.
Editor: Phillipe Schmidt-Araguin (Article created with AI assistance).