The Tribunal Constitucional has rejected as inadmissible, by a majority, the constitutional appeal (recurso de amparo) by Defensor del Pueblo, Ángel Gabilondo, against the temporary suspension of voting rights for people naturalised under the Ley de Nietos . More than 160,000 people are affected, whose active voting rights have currently been suspended on an interim basis by the Tribunal Supremo .
According to judicial and government sources, the majority in the Tribunal Constitucional justified its refusal to admit the appeal on the subsidiary nature of amparo: the ordinary court process had not yet been exhausted and procedural options remained, making the application premature. The full court thus declined to review, through fundamental-rights protection, the interim measures ordered by the Tribunal Supremo.
Constitutional Court judges Ramón Sáez and Juan Carlos Campo filed a dissenting opinion. They argue that the large-scale suspension of voting rights affects a fundamental right at the heart of an election process already under way. Given the procedural situation at the Tribunal Supremo and the tight deadlines, effective legal protection would otherwise not be ensured in practice. In their words, this is a case of particular significance for constitutional case law.
At the same time, the Tribunal Supremo is pressing the executive to cooperate. In a recent order, it called on the Government to provide the list of names of naturalised citizens affected by the suspension. The Supremo said disclosure was necessary for judicial review and linked its request to possible legal consequences for non-compliance. Reports put the number of people who have acquired Spanish nationality under the Ley de Nietos at more than 160,000.
The Tribunal Constitucional’s decision shifts the focus back to the Tribunal Supremo and the Government. It offers no clarity for the imminent preparations for the election on whether or when those affected will be returned to the electoral register. A fundamental question of law is at stake: to what extent may the constitutional court intervene in pending interim proceedings before the administrative courts when an alleged mass infringement of voting rights is claimed? While the majority maintains the strict subsidiary nature of amparo, the two dissenting judges call for constitutional review, exceptionally, even at the interim-measures stage.
The Ley de Nietos facilitated the naturalisation of descendants of Spanish exiles. The current dispute is not about nationality itself, but its effect on the electoral register and therefore on the active right to vote in an election already under way.
Editor: Phillipe Schmidt-Araguin (Article created with AI assistance).