Vox takes the case to the courts

Vox asked the Supreme Court and the Central Electoral Board (JEC) on Friday, 16 October, to force the government, the National Statistics Institute (INE) and the census office to carry out a provisional suspension of voting rights for naturalized citizens who obtained nationality under the 'ley de nietos' (Ley de Memoria Democrática) without proving descent from exiles. It cites a Supreme Court finding that, a month after the first suspension, it was unknown whether any files had been separated out, a level of compliance it called nonexistent or at least unknown. Its JEC filing asks for an inventory of resources, an operational plan naming responsible officials and a reply within three days. A second request asks the Supreme Court to open an execution incident over its orders of 10 September and 12 October.

Electoral board clears overseas mailings

The JEC allowed the census office to start sending electoral documents to overseas voters for the 29 November general elections. The first mailing may go out between 24 and 30 October 2026, but only with a warning that voting rights could be suspended under the Supreme Court's orders. The census office had asked because the Foreign Ministry had not sent the detailed information those orders require. At the request of Correos, which warned that Buenos Aires airport would be unavailable on dates overlapping the process, the board also allowed an earlier first mailing for voters in Argentina, though documents will not reach them before the legal dates. The decision was passed to the Supreme Court's third chamber for any guidance on procedure.

Burgos council vote and party accusations

The Burgos city council rejected the 'ley de nietos' in a Vox motion, approved with PP and Vox votes against the PSOE, only days after the Supreme Court ordered that the people concerned not be entered in the census. Vox councillor Ignacio Peña called the policy "a massive electoral fraud" by Pedro Sánchez, saying studies pointed to 20,000 people under the norm while he put the number seeking nationality by this route at two million. PSOE councillor Sonia Rodríguez accused Vox and the PP of spreading doubts, rumors and falsehoods, and noted the law sets a window "between 1936 and 1955". In an Antena 3 interview, Vox secretary general José María Figaredo accused Sánchez of working through associations "managed by the PSOE" to reverse the ruling, without naming them.

“Think about the 'ley de nietos': they have tried to alter Spain's electoral census.”

Media reports say the Centro de Descendientes de Españoles Unidos (CeDEU) hired a lawyer to file submissions against the suspension. Iustitia Europa, which joined Vox in seeking the suspension, asked the court to exclude two associations, Cubanos por la Democracia and Ascendientes Españoles en el Mundo, for lacking standing.

Voters abroad push back

Juan Manuel Martínez Chas, a Buenos Aires resident who obtained nationality through the same route, filed a complaint with the Ombudsman in September and widened it after the second ruling. He said that even if he never votes, he wants the question raised before the Constitutional Court or the European Court of Human Rights. El País reports that his deadline to appear in the case falls on Thursday, 22 October, and that the Hague apostille needed for foreign documents, which takes at least a week, has become the biggest obstacle. Juan Manuel de Hoz, president of Cedeu, said:

“Each person who wants to appeal has to come with an apostilled power of attorney in order to appear.”

Participants in the Galician 'Reencontros con Galicia' program, more than 200 Galicia-born people over 65 living abroad, argued that the right to vote should be kept. A 75-year-old man from Redondela who emigrated to Uruguay said his daughters and grandchildren already hold Spanish nationality. A 77-year-old woman from Esgos who emigrated to Argentina as a child said people abroad are always informed about what happens in Spain.