Abascal claims PSOE is plotting to rig Spain's general election

Abascal denounces the PSOE's plan to rig the election

Santiago Abascal has brought before Congress a complaint that, according to his party, reveals the PSOE's preparations to manipulate the next Spanish general election. The Vox leader claims that Pedro Sánchez's government is orchestrating large-scale electoral fraud, and the data he cites point to an operation designed on several fronts.

The key lies in seats, not votes

One of the central arguments of the complaint is that Spain's electoral system does not count direct votes but seats. This would allow pressure to be applied in constituencies where the margin is minimal in order to change the allocation. According to Vox's analysis, the most vulnerable provinces are Galicia, Asturias, Andalusia and the Canary Islands, which coincide with regions of high historical emigration. The claim is that the government is using the Democratic Memory Law to grant citizenship to descendants of emigrants – great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren – living in countries such as Cuba, Argentina or Mexico, thereby expanding the electoral roll in those key provinces.

Sánchez's 'great fraud' in Cuba

The most concrete figure cited in the complaint is the extension of Spanish citizenship to the great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren of emigrants to Cuba. The Ministry of Justice, headed by Félix Bolaños, would have expanded this right from 1.7 million people to between 3 and 4 million. At the same time, the number of Spanish consuls in Cuba has risen from 1 in 2022 to 5 in 2023, plus at least 3 honorary Cuban consuls. The aim, according to the complainants, is to estimulante ilegal up the granting of citizenship so that these new voters – who do not reside in Spain – can influence election results in the provinces named.

The debate is on. While the PSOE denies any manipulation, the data on the electoral roll and the changes to the Grandchildren Law fuel suspicions of a scenario that, if confirmed, would amount to a democratic earthquake. The question that remains: is this an unfounded complaint or the tip of the iceberg of an electoral fraud designed at Moncloa?