The Constitutional Court’s majority is expected to dismiss the Defensor del Pueblo’s appeal as premature. The Supreme Court has given affected voters until October 23 to join the case and submit arguments.
Affected voters have until October 23 to enter the Supreme Court case and file their arguments. The deadline will shape the Constitutional Court’s expected decision on whether to hear an appeal over the loss of voting rights for more than 160,000 Spanish citizens living abroad. The group includes up to 163,020 people listed in CERA, Spain’s electoral register for citizens permanently resident overseas.
A majority of the Constitutional Court’s 12 members is expected to dismiss the appeal brought by the Defensor del Pueblo, according to sources at the court. The majority agrees with the position prepared by magistrate Enrique Arnaldo: the appeal is premature because affected voters still have a chance to make their case before the Supreme Court. The Constitutional Court is also considering the ombudsman’s request for urgent interim measures ahead of the November 29 general election.
The dispute concerns a precautionary suspension of electoral registration for citizens naturalised under the 2022 Ley de Memoria Democrática, commonly known as the grandchildren law. On October 12, the Supreme Court’s Administrative Litigation Chamber confirmed the suspension. It applies to people living abroad and registered in CERA, but not to naturalised citizens resident in Spain. The affected group represents slightly more than 0.41% of an electorate of over 38.7 million, according to figures cited in the appeal.
The Supreme Court also allowed an exception for people who can obtain a consular certificate showing that they did not gain nationality through a 2022 instruction that extended eligibility to some people who had emigrated for economic reasons. Those with the certificate retain the right to vote under the Supreme Court’s order. The court’s position, reported by the EFE news agency, is that affected citizens will be unable to vote on November 29 unless consular offices certify that they are descendants of exiles.
The dispute stems from a gap between the law’s stated purpose and the later administrative interpretation of eligibility. The 2022 law created a route to citizenship for, among others, descendants of Spaniards exiled for political reasons during the Civil War and the post-war period. A subsequent Justice Ministry instruction presumed Spanish origin or connection for certain categories of emigrants, broadening the number of people who obtained citizenship. The Supreme Court ordered a review of 163,020 procedures while the authorities establish which applicants fall within the law’s intended scope.
The Defensor del Pueblo, former Socialist education minister Ángel Gabilondo, argues that the ordinary court process is already exhausted because the Supreme Court’s orders are final and cannot be appealed. In his appeal, filed with the Constitutional Court on October 16 after requests from individuals and organisations representing Spaniards abroad, Gabilondo argued that no Spanish citizen should lose electoral status while remaining Spanish. He also contends that the measure treats citizens in the same circumstances differently solely because some live abroad.
Waiting creates a practical problem. If the general election goes ahead on November 29 before the case is resolved, those whose voting rights remain suspended cannot cast a ballot later, even if they ultimately win. The appeal says this could cause irreversible harm to substantive rights, including political participation. Gabilondo’s filing notes that historical turnout among overseas voters has been below 10%. The potentially participating group was estimated at about 0.04% of the overall electorate, but he argues that its size does not diminish the protection owed to the right to vote.
The Supreme Court’s suspension followed a challenge to the instruction by Vox and Iustitia Europa. The instruction presumed that people who emigrated between 1939 and 1955 had been political exiles, extending access beyond the group the law was designed to cover, according to the appeal. The Consejo General de la Ciudadanía Española en el Exterior, which represents Spaniards living abroad and their descendants, asked Gabilondo to intervene urgently on behalf of the affected citizens.
The Central Electoral Commission decided to send voting materials to Spaniards living abroad, including those affected by the suspension, but receiving a ballot does not itself restore eligibility. The Defensor had argued that everyone registered in the Censo Electoral de Residentes Ausentes on August 1, 2026 should be able to vote under the law. If the Constitutional Court rejects the appeal, the remaining route for those without the consular certificate will depend on how the Supreme Court handles submissions due by October 23.
