Supreme Court Upholds Suspension of Voting Rights for 'Grandchildren's Law' Citizens

• The Spanish Supreme Court has upheld the suspension of voting rights for 163,000 citizens who acquired Spanish nationality under the "Grandchildren's Law," preventing them from voting in the upcoming November 29 elections.
• The decision follows legal challenges from far-right parties Vox and Iustitia Europa, which contested the 2022 Democratic Memory Law that facilitates nationality for descendants of Spanish exiles.

Judicial Reasoning

• The court argues that strict verification of the external census is necessary to maintain security and transparency, asserting that the surge in new electors could compromise the electoral process.
• The State Attorney's Office and the Prosecution had warned that verifying thousands of individual files within the short timeframe before the elections is "materially impossible" and violates fundamental voting rights.
• Despite these warnings, the court rejected the plea, blaming the administration for a lack of foresight regarding the electoral census management.

Implications and Reactions

• The government cannot appeal the decision directly to the Constitutional Court; any legal remedy would require individual claims from affected citizens, which are unlikely to be resolved before the election date.
• Judge Alicia Millán dissented, arguing that the early election makes the loss of voting rights an "irreversible" violation of a fundamental right.
• The Association of Descendants of Spaniards Abroad (ADEM) condemned the decision, stating that they refuse to be "guinea pigs" in a political power struggle.
• The ruling does not revoke the granted nationalities but specifically restricts the electoral effects for those registered in the external census (CERA) after August 1, 2026.