The Supreme Court says that the amnesty law is "a real and serious danger" of conditioning the elections

BarcelonaThe Supreme Court considers that what is known as the grandchildren's law "generates a well-founded, real, and serious danger of being able to gravely affect the objectivity and transparency of the electoral process", which can cause "irreversible damage" to the elections and, therefore, to an "essential element for the rule of law". "There is a risk of alteration of the electoral roll through an exceptional increase in the number of new registrants in the electoral roll of absent residents (CERA)", the ruling adds.

In the same vein, the highest court insists that the "truthfulness, objectivity, and transparency of the process of electing representatives" in the elections "must be governed and present in all phases of the process", including in "the preparation and updating of the electoral roll". Furthermore, the Supreme Court denies that the precautionary measures "are not disproportionate in relation to the general interests that are being preserved", although it does affect "the right of participation" of people who have acquired Spanish nationality through the grandchildren's law.

With these arguments, the contentious-administrative chamber justifies the precautionary suspension of the vote of people who have obtained Spanish nationality for being children or grandchildren of citizens of the State who left the country between July 18, 1936, and December 31, 1955. As stated in the historical memory law, this specifically refers to those "born outside of Spain, of a father or mother, grandfather or grandmother, who were originally Spanish", and who suffered exile for "political, ideological, or belief-based reasons or for sexual orientation or identity" and "had lost or renounced" their Spanish nationality.

In this way, the Supreme Court's decision leaves the right to vote of some 2.4 million people who have requested to avail themselves of the democratic memory law in limbo and requests more time to study the appeal in greater depth, which has been presented by VOX and Iustitia Europa –an extra-parliamentary party common in cases surrounding the PSOE–. Furthermore, the chamber points out that the CERA census had 2,328,260 registered voters in the 2023 general elections, while on July 1st of this year it reached 2,736,522. That is to say, 408,262 more registered voters.

Applause from the Spanish right

The Supreme Court's decision has once again coincided with the claims of the PP and the Spanish far-right by suspending a law promoted by Pedro Sánchez's previous government as a precautionary measure. Thus, while Vox and the Popular Party applauded the Spanish court's ruling this Tuesday—the arguments that came to light this Thursday were still to be published—the PSOE and Sumar criticized its decision. From the Moncloa, the Minister of the Presidency and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños, "respectfully" asked the Supreme Court to resolve the substance of the matter "as soon as possible" and, especially, before the elections that will take place in 2027.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Santiago Abascal already celebrated the Supreme Court's precautionary measures. "We were right," tweeted the Popular Party leader. And, regarding the far-right leader, who has been preparing the ground for some time to cast doubt on the results of the next Spanish elections, he showed himself proud of having managed to "suspend the attempt to manipulate the electoral census to alter the elections".