Court declines to intervene

Spain's Constitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional) rejected an appeal filed by Ombudsman Ángel Gabilondo, who had asked it to lift the suspension of voting rights for Spaniards who acquired nationality under the so-called grandchildren law and live abroad. The plenary voted 10 to 2 to reject the appeal as premature, because the Supreme Court has not yet exhausted the ordinary judicial route in its administrative chamber, where the case is still being processed. As a result, the court did not rule on the urgent interim measures the Ombudsman had requested. The plenary began deliberating on Tuesday, 20 October, and continued on Wednesday, 21 October. The draft resolution prepared by rapporteur Enrique Arnaldo proposed inadmission, and most magistrates shared it. Progressive and conservative magistrates voted together, a departure from the bloc voting seen on the court in recent times.

Votes to reject the appeal10

Votes against2

Votes to reject the appeal

10 votes

Votes against

2 votes

Data from the article text

Who cannot vote for now

The suspension covers the nationals already registered in the census of Spaniards residing abroad (CERA) as of 1 August 2026, and it also blocks registration for those not yet on that census. Figures for the group vary slightly between reports, at 163,000 and 163,020, while the total remains above 160,000. Nationals who hold a consular certificate proving they are children or grandchildren of exiles who lost or renounced their nationality for political, ideological, belief or sexual-orientation reasons can still vote. Those who obtained nationality under a Justice Ministry instruction are excluded. That instruction presumes exile for everyone who left Spain between 18 July 1936 and 31 December 1955.

Supreme Court reasoning and electoral deadlines

The Supreme Court imposed the suspension in September and confirmed it on 12 October. It argued that until the circumstances in which these people obtained nationality are clarified, the general interest in an electoral roll free of doubt outweighs their right to vote. The magistrates also stressed that voting rights and nationality are not an indivisible package. The court has opened a new period for submissions on the dispatch of electoral documents to voters abroad, which closes at 3pm on Wednesday, 21 October, and which warns that their voting rights could be suspended. The Central Electoral Board (Junta Electoral Central) noted that the Foreign Ministry had not carried out the court's order to identify the files granting nationality under the exile presumption. The board told the Electoral Census Office to send the first documentation between 24 and 30 October, with that warning included. Ballot papers will not be closed until 2 November, so the first mailing will not contain them.

What comes next

The Constitutional Court's decision leaves the Supreme Court's interim suspension in place, and the Supreme Court still has to rule on the submissions it has received. Affected parties have until Friday, 23 October to file their allegations, and the Supreme Court can change its position once it reviews them. The general election is set for 29 November. Whether the 160,000-plus nationals abroad can vote in it will depend on that ruling and on the documentation dispatched in late October.