Feijóo denounces Spain's 'ley de nietos' as electoral ploy, drawing charges of hypocrisy after he backed similar measure in 2022

The accusation

On 29 June 2026, Popular Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo called the citizenship provision of Spain's Democratic Memory Law a case of 'electoral engineering, interest in getting new voters'. In a series of media appearances he argued that the so-called 'ley de nietos' was a 'substantial modification of the census' that 'cannot continue', adding that it would hand out 'two and a half million passports for people who, for the most part, have never been to Spain'.

It's a substantial modification of the census. It cannot continue. It's two and a half million passports for people who, for the most part, have never been to Spain.

The remarks immediately drew fire from journalists and rival politicians, who pointed out that Feijóo himself had championed nationality recovery for descendants of Spaniards during a 2022 visit to Buenos Aires.

Recovering the nationality of the descendants of Spaniards is a civil right.

The law and the numbers

The Democratic Memory Law was approved by Spain's Congress on 14 July 2022 and ratified by the Senate on 5 October that year. Its eighth additional provision lets children and grandchildren of Spaniards who fled abroad for political, ideological or sexual-orientation reasons reclaim Spanish nationality. By 31 March 2026, 2.45 million appointments had been requested, 544,722 applications approved and 306,000 people registered. Those who acquire nationality automatically gain the right to vote.

Political reactions

Galician president Alfonso Rueda, a PP colleague, demanded that applicants prove a 'real connection' to Spain. 'What you cannot do is have practically no link and sometimes almost want a passport more than anything else,' he said, estimating that over two million people could join the overseas voter roll. Vox went further, asking the Electoral Board to suspend all postal voting from abroad, calling the system 'terribly opaque' and accusing the government of a 'slow-motion coup'.

What you cannot do is have practically no link and sometimes almost want a passport more than anything else.

Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso warned that 'every consul and every official who grants nationality to someone who doesn't deserve it must know they'd be doing something illegal'.

Defenders of the law

Television host Iñaki López called Feijóo's stance cynical, noting that the PP itself had processed nationality for Sephardic descendants in 2015 and had long courted the diaspora vote. 'The Spanish electoral system is one of the most secure, honest and reliable in the world,' López said on air. Journalist Antonio Maestre described Feijóo's position as 'legendary cynicism', arguing the law was a matter of democratic memory and historical repair.

The Spanish electoral system is one of the most secure, honest and reliable in the world.

Editorial response

EL PAÍS editorialised that Feijóo had 'made a mistake by sowing mistrust about the electoral roll', likening his tactics to those of Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again movement. The paper noted that casting doubt on electoral processes without evidence risked undermining democratic institutions.