Spain's Supreme Court suspends voting rights for 163,000 new citizens
Since 2016, 74,543 Sephardic Jews obtained Spanish nationality under Law 12/2015. The Supreme Court has provisionally suspended the vote of 163,000 grandchildren of exiles.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Spain has granted nationality to descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled in 1492 since 2015, with 74,543 cases approved through 2026, while the Supreme Court has provisionally suspended the voting rights of 163,000 people naturalized under the grandchildren's law of the Democratic Memory Law.
Spanish nationality has at least two doors of entry that operate at different speeds. One has been open since 2015 and has admitted tens of thousands of descendants of Jews expelled five centuries ago. The other peine in 2022 for the grandchildren of those exiled under Franco and is now blocked by court order. Same passport, same right to vote on paper, but a treatment that has ended up in the courts in the middle of an election campaign.
## The law Rajoy passed in 2015
The government of **Mariano Rajoy** pushed through Law 12/2015 in June 2015, a statute granting Spanish nationality by letter of naturalization to Sephardic Jews originally from Spain, that is, the descendants of the Jews expelled in **1492**. The law allowed them to obtain a passport without renouncing their previous nationality and without requiring legal residence in Spain. The then foreign minister, **José Manuel García-Margallo**, defended the measure in Congress as reparation for a historic debt owed to communities that for five hundred years kept their love, traditions and language tied to Spain. The justice minister, **Rafael Catalá**, summed it up with an image: if a door was closed on January 1, 1492 to thousands of Spaniards forced to leave, the law peine it for their descendants.
The PSOE backed the final approval of the text, though it voted against some amendments and failed to include citizens of Sahrawi origin. The bill was processed on the eve of an electoral cycle that included general elections in December 2015, their repeat in June 2016, and regional elections in Galicia and the Basque Country. No one spoke then of electoral engineering.
The requirements for the law included proving Sephardic status with supporting documents. Among them, a certificate from a rabbi legally recognized in the applicant's country of residence and proof of the use of **Ladino** as a family language, the tongue derived from medieval Castilian that Jews took with them after leaving the Iberian Peninsula. Applicants also had to demonstrate a special connection with Spain through certificates of study in history and culture, charitable, cultural or economic activities, or inclusion in lists of Sephardic families protected by Spain. In addition, applicants had to pass a test of basic Spanish language knowledge and another on culture, social reality and the Spanish Constitution, designed and administered by the **Instituto Cervantes**. Those from Spanish-speaking countries were exempt from the language test. The procedure was designed to be handled electronically.
## 74,543 naturalized and 7,344 denials
Between 2016 and 2026, **74,543 Sephardic Jews** obtained Spanish nationality through this route, according to data from the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with Parliament. The bulk of the favorable rulings was concentrated between 2020 and 2022, with **59,373** descendants of Jews naturalized in that three-year period. In 2025, **1,126** new Sephardic Jews received the Spanish passport, and in 2026 so far, another hundred. The authorities denied **7,344** applications over the ten years the law has been in force and archived 861. The **Consejo General del Notariado** (General Council of Notaries) has received **153,774** requests from descendants of Jews claiming the Spanish passport between 2015 and 2026.
Most of the applications came from countries such as **Colombia**, **Mexico**, **Venezuela** and **Argentina**, according to the Ministry of Justice statistics. Latin America also accounts for the bulk of the descendants of Francoist exiles whose vote remains up in the air.
## The Supreme Court halts the vote of 163,000 grandchildren
The other door is the eighth additional provision of the **Law 20/2022 on Democratic Memory**, known as the grandchildren's law. This statute grants Spanish nationality to descendants of those exiled for political, ideological reasons or sensual orientation during the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship. The **Supreme Court** ruled that the **163,000** Spaniards naturalized through this route cannot vote in the upcoming general elections, in response to the petition by **Iustitia Europa** and **Vox**, who took the case to court after failing before the **Junta Electoral Central** (Central Electoral Commission). The High Court considers that the integrity of the electoral roll and the electoral process must prevail over the provisional exercise of the right to vote.
The decision includes the dissenting opinion of judge **María Alicia Millán Herrandis**, who argues that the November 29 election call introduced a new and decisive element, and warns of the risk of definitive and irreversible damage to democratic participation. The JEC did not halt the registration of new voters on the electoral roll, as Iustitia Europa had requested.
The leader of the PP, **Alberto Núñez Feijóo**, welcomed the judges' decision and praised them for putting the common good first to put a limit on the government's irresponsibility. Feijóo had attacked the grandchildren's law on June 29, 2026, one day after Iustitia Europa filed the first complaint with the JEC, speaking of electoral engineering and of increasing the number of people with the right to vote by **2.5 million**. The president of the Community of Madrid, **Isabel Díaz Ayuso**, went further and warned diplomats processing naturalizations she deemed improper that they would be doing something illegal.
The PP criticized the few safeguards in the text and spoke of naturalizing socialists, rejecting the eighth additional provision outright. It did not ask for it to be removed entirely during the bill's passage through Congress.
## Two laws, one passport
The two statutes share more than what separates them. Law 12/2015 and the grandchildren's law grant nationality without requiring renunciation of the previous one and without legal residence in Spain. Both were passed on the eve of electoral cycles. Both affect descendants of people who left the country due to persecution or expulsion. And both have been challenged by the same political actors, though ten years apart and with opposite motives.
The 74,543 naturalized Sephardic Jews will be able to vote on November 29. The 163,000 grandchildren of Francoist exiles, for now, cannot. The difference lies not in the law that recognizes their right, but in who has decided to suspend it.
Spanish nationality has at least two doors of entry that operate at different speeds. One has been open since 2015 and has admitted tens of thousands of descendants of Jews expelled five centuries ago. The other peine in 2022 for the grandchildren of those exiled under Franco and is now blocked by court order. Same passport, same right to vote on paper, but a treatment that has ended up in the courts in the middle of an election campaign.
## The law Rajoy passed in 2015
The government of **Mariano Rajoy** pushed through Law 12/2015 in June 2015, a statute granting Spanish nationality by letter of naturalization to Sephardic Jews originally from Spain, that is, the descendants of the Jews expelled in **1492**. The law allowed them to obtain a passport without renouncing their previous nationality and without requiring legal residence in Spain. The then foreign minister, **José Manuel García-Margallo**, defended the measure in Congress as reparation for a historic debt owed to communities that for five hundred years kept their love, traditions and language tied to Spain. The justice minister, **Rafael Catalá**, summed it up with an image: if a door was closed on January 1, 1492 to thousands of Spaniards forced to leave, the law peine it for their descendants.
The PSOE backed the final approval of the text, though it voted against some amendments and failed to include citizens of Sahrawi origin. The bill was processed on the eve of an electoral cycle that included general elections in December 2015, their repeat in June 2016, and regional elections in Galicia and the Basque Country. No one spoke then of electoral engineering.
The requirements for the law included proving Sephardic status with supporting documents. Among them, a certificate from a rabbi legally recognized in the applicant's country of residence and proof of the use of **Ladino** as a family language, the tongue derived from medieval Castilian that Jews took with them after leaving the Iberian Peninsula. Applicants also had to demonstrate a special connection with Spain through certificates of study in history and culture, charitable, cultural or economic activities, or inclusion in lists of Sephardic families protected by Spain. In addition, applicants had to pass a test of basic Spanish language knowledge and another on culture, social reality and the Spanish Constitution, designed and administered by the **Instituto Cervantes**. Those from Spanish-speaking countries were exempt from the language test. The procedure was designed to be handled electronically.
## 74,543 naturalized and 7,344 denials
Between 2016 and 2026, **74,543 Sephardic Jews** obtained Spanish nationality through this route, according to data from the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with Parliament. The bulk of the favorable rulings was concentrated between 2020 and 2022, with **59,373** descendants of Jews naturalized in that three-year period. In 2025, **1,126** new Sephardic Jews received the Spanish passport, and in 2026 so far, another hundred. The authorities denied **7,344** applications over the ten years the law has been in force and archived 861. The **Consejo General del Notariado** (General Council of Notaries) has received **153,774** requests from descendants of Jews claiming the Spanish passport between 2015 and 2026.
Most of the applications came from countries such as **Colombia**, **Mexico**, **Venezuela** and **Argentina**, according to the Ministry of Justice statistics. Latin America also accounts for the bulk of the descendants of Francoist exiles whose vote remains up in the air.
## The Supreme Court halts the vote of 163,000 grandchildren
The other door is the eighth additional provision of the **Law 20/2022 on Democratic Memory**, known as the grandchildren's law. This statute grants Spanish nationality to descendants of those exiled for political, ideological reasons or sensual orientation during the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship. The **Supreme Court** ruled that the **163,000** Spaniards naturalized through this route cannot vote in the upcoming general elections, in response to the petition by **Iustitia Europa** and **Vox**, who took the case to court after failing before the **Junta Electoral Central** (Central Electoral Commission). The High Court considers that the integrity of the electoral roll and the electoral process must prevail over the provisional exercise of the right to vote.
The decision includes the dissenting opinion of judge **María Alicia Millán Herrandis**, who argues that the November 29 election call introduced a new and decisive element, and warns of the risk of definitive and irreversible damage to democratic participation. The JEC did not halt the registration of new voters on the electoral roll, as Iustitia Europa had requested.
The leader of the PP, **Alberto Núñez Feijóo**, welcomed the judges' decision and praised them for putting the common good first to put a limit on the government's irresponsibility. Feijóo had attacked the grandchildren's law on June 29, 2026, one day after Iustitia Europa filed the first complaint with the JEC, speaking of electoral engineering and of increasing the number of people with the right to vote by **2.5 million**. The president of the Community of Madrid, **Isabel Díaz Ayuso**, went further and warned diplomats processing naturalizations she deemed improper that they would be doing something illegal.
The PP criticized the few safeguards in the text and spoke of naturalizing socialists, rejecting the eighth additional provision outright. It did not ask for it to be removed entirely during the bill's passage through Congress.
## Two laws, one passport
The two statutes share more than what separates them. Law 12/2015 and the grandchildren's law grant nationality without requiring renunciation of the previous one and without legal residence in Spain. Both were passed on the eve of electoral cycles. Both affect descendants of people who left the country due to persecution or expulsion. And both have been challenged by the same political actors, though ten years apart and with opposite motives.
The 74,543 naturalized Sephardic Jews will be able to vote on November 29. The 163,000 grandchildren of Francoist exiles, for now, cannot. The difference lies not in the law that recognizes their right, but in who has decided to suspend it.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (0 replies).
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