The Supreme Court blocks the right to vote of those naturalized under the grandchildren law until they prove that they are descendants of exiles

MadridThe Supreme Court has acceded to the demands of Vox and Iustitia Europa –a non-parliamentary party common in cases surrounding the PSOE– and has temporarily suspended the right to vote for people who have obtained Spanish nationality through the Democratic Memory Law. It is a precautionary measure that it has adopted until it issues a final ruling and while the Spanish consulates do not “issue an accrediting certificate” of their status as descendants of exiles: “Born outside Spain, to a father or mother, grandfather or grandmother, who were originally Spanish, and who suffered exile for political, ideological, or belief-based reasons, or for reasons of sexual orientation or identity, and who had lost or renounced Spanish nationality”. This is the exact phrase that appears in the Democratic Memory Law. One of the six magistrates of the chamber has announced that they will formulate a dissenting opinion.

What the Supreme Court does is draw a distinction between this regulation, approved in October 2022, and an instruction published five days after the law came into force and signed by the Director General of Legal Security and Public Faith. The PP put it in the eye of the storm because she is the sister of Minister Óscar Puente. “She expanded the law without authority and has turned this process into a sieve,” criticized the PP. Two months ago, Hazte Oír filed a complaint against her for malfeasance, which remains pending the Prosecutor's Office's statement.

The instruction went further than the law and established that to obtain nationality, the status of exiles would be presumed for “all Spaniards” who left Spain between July 18, 1936, and December 31, 1955. It would only be necessary to prove departure from Spanish territory through, for example, a passport stamp or marriage, birth, or death certificates. From Moncloa, the Spanish government spokesperson, Elma Saiz, reacted shortly after the news became known: “We do not share the decision, but we trust in the impartiality of Justice”.

The high court suspends the registration in the Electoral Census of Absent Residents (CERA) for people who have obtained Spanish nationality through the application of the Democratic Memory Law, although it allows the "processing of the corresponding file" to continue until it concludes. Regarding people who are already registered, it suspends the "electoral effects" for "successive electoral processes that may be called." In other words, they will not be able to vote. The census for the general elections to be held next year –the date is not yet known– will close on January 1, 2027. The precautionary measure will fully condition it if the ruling has not arrived beforehand.

Likewise, the Supreme Court assigns duties to the Electoral Census Office. It orders it to break down the people who have registered in the CERA as a result of a "direct application" of the "exile cases provided for" in the Democratic Memory Law and those who have benefited from the "interpretation" of the instruction.

The PP and Vox applaud the news

Both the PP and Vox have rushed to react to the news on social media. “We were right,” Alberto Núñez Feijóo limited himself to celebrating on X. “The Spanish government intended, with total shamelessness, in a hurry and without guarantees, to alter the general elections so that Sánchez would perpetuate himself in power and it has encountered a rule of law that works,” proclaimed the number 3 of the PP, Alma Ezcurra, in a video sent to the media. “We congratulate ourselves on the blow dealt by the justice system,” she added, even though the Popular Party did not go to the courts.

For its part, Santiago Abascal's party, which has long been preparing the ground to question the result of the upcoming Spanish elections, has boasted of having managed to “suspend the attempt to manipulate the electoral census to alter the elections.” The spokesperson for the far-right party in Congress, Pepa Millán, took the opportunity to reproach the Popular Party for taking credit: “Some limited themselves to warning about it and others of us have managed to stop Pedro Sánchez's goal of perpetrating a coup in the upcoming elections,” she said in a brief statement in the lower house.

The hearing at the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court's decision comes 24 hours after a hearing was held to confront the arguments of Vox and Iustitia Europa with the positions of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Spanish government. Jorge Buxadé, legal coordinator of the far-right party, justified that the suspension of the right to vote was necessary to “preserve the legality, objectivity, transparency and equality” of the electoral census and to prevent it from continuing to “increase in an anomalous manner”. For his part, Luis María Pardo, president of Iustitia Europa, argued that the “certainty of the democratic process” was “at stake” and defended that a future favorable ruling could not “reconstruct with certainty elections already held”.

In contrast, the State Attorney –representing the Spanish government– accused Vox and Iustitia Europa of basing themselves on “hypothetical and eventual risks” and maintained that suspending registrations in the CERA would violate the right to active suffrage: “How could one be deprived of judicial rights to people who have acquired a nationality through firm administrative acts?”, she asked.