The overseas electoral register closed on 1 August, leaving the Supreme Court little time to resolve the dispute before Spain’s 29 November general election. The Public Prosecutor’s Office is asking the court to lift its temporary voting ban and let affected citizens join the proceedings.
The request concerns people who obtained Spanish nationality under the so-called 'ley de nietos' and are registered abroad. Spanish media estimate that about 400,000 people who gained nationality through the procedure could be affected. Their right to vote is now directly at issue.
The electoral roll is the immediate obstacle. For legal certainty and compliance with electoral law, changes to the register are allowed only within narrow limits after its 1 August closure. The prosecutor warns that applying the Supreme Court’s order could keep registrations suspended until election day and even beyond. RTVE reported that any reversal would have to be reflected in the overseas register, the Censo Electoral de Residentes Ausentes, before ballots are issued and processed.
That timetable weighs heavily on the judges’ assessment of whether precautionary measures remain justified. The dispute is over whether a later administrative instruction lawfully broadened the statutory route to Spanish nationality.
The Supreme Court gave the parties 48 hours to submit arguments after considering requests from the claimant and an issue raised by the court itself. The deadline ended on Thursday, 8 October.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office told the Administrative Litigation Chamber that the early election call creates serious practical difficulties and may conflict with the measures under appeal. Fiscalía was asked whether the suspension should remain in force, and the State Legal Service received the same request. The Central Electoral Commission, Vox and Iustitia Europa were also asked to respond.
The parties must address whether naturalised citizens directly affected by the case should be admitted. The prosecutor reiterated that they should be allowed to appear and defend their interests.
The request is procedural, but its effect is immediate. People whose electoral registration is suspended cannot vote unless a consulate expressly confirms, on an individual basis, that they are the child or grandchild of an exile persecuted for political or ideological reasons, or because of belief or sexual orientation and gender identity.
The nationality itself is not cancelled, and applications still being processed continue. The dispute concerns the right to vote and the status of entries in the overseas electoral register, not the validity of Spanish nationality already granted.
The dispute began with precautionary measures granted in part by the Fourth Section of the Supreme Court’s Administrative Litigation Chamber on 8 and 9 September 2026. The order suspended the electoral effects of registrations in the Censo Electoral de Residentes Ausentes for people who received nationality through the eighth additional provision of Law 20/2022 on Democratic Memory.
The order focused on cases relying on the presumption of exile introduced by an October 2022 instruction from the Ministry of Justice. The suspension does not apply in the same way when consular records support descent from exiles.
Vox and Iustitia Europa had sought those measures. The court cited an extraordinary increase of more than 400,000 voters in the CERA compared with the 2023 general election. In its view, that increase created a real and serious risk to the electoral process’s objectivity and transparency. The organisations’ applications became the basis for wider litigation over the administrative procedure’s legality.
The government’s legal service has taken the same practical position as the prosecutor, though their arguments come from different sides. In its submission, the Abogacía del Estado also asked the court to lift the suspension, saying it would be materially impossible to review all the files before 29 November.
The case is part of a wider series of Supreme Court disputes over electoral rules and the powers of public institutions. It follows an earlier court challenge involving Constitutional Court judges.
The court can leave the suspension in place or lift it, and can also tailor the measure to the election calendar. The prosecutor’s position is that a measure intended to protect electoral integrity cannot be applied mechanically when the closed register makes individual review impossible.
Until the ruling arrives, about 400,000 overseas registrations may remain subject to a decision as election day approaches.
