Millions of descendants of Spaniards have applied for Spanish citizenship under the so-called “Ley de Nietos”. The opposition sees this as a potential risk to the composition of the electoral register. The government rejects the allegation.
Spain Expat Press Editorial Team
by Marlon Gallego Bosbach
The so-called “Ley de Nietos” is increasingly becoming a political point of contention in Spain. The legislation, which allows descendants of Spaniards to acquire or regain Spanish citizenship under certain conditions, is fuelling heated debate less than a year before the latest possible date for the next general election.
The focus is less on the historical purpose of the legislation and more on a political question: what impact could the large number of new Spanish citizens have on the electoral register and, consequently, on future election results?
According to the Spanish government, around 2.45 million applications had been submitted under the Ley de Memoria Democrática by the end of March. More than 1.2 million applications were already being processed at that point, around 545,000 cases had been approved, and approximately 306,500 people had been entered in the consular civil registry.
It is important to note that the frequently cited figure of 2.5 million does not mean that Spain has already gained 2.5 million new voters. There are several steps between submitting an application, approval, registration and actually exercising the right to vote.
What is behind the “Ley de Nietos”?
The legislation commonly referred to as the “Ley de Nietos” is part of the Ley de Memoria Democrática. It applies, among others, to descendants of Spaniards who went into exile as a result of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco dictatorship.
Certain other descendants of Spaniards may also benefit, provided they meet the conditions set out by law. The procedure is therefore not a general naturalisation programme for foreigners, but is instead based on Spanish ancestry and historically defined circumstances set out in the legislation.
The government primarily views the legislation as an act of historical redress. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares described it as a way of restoring to people, or their descendants, rights that had been lost as a result of exile, persecution or emigration.
However, the surge in applications has been considerably greater than under previous, comparable legislation. The 2007 Ley de Memoria Histórica resulted in just over half a million approved citizenship applications. The current legislation is expected to surpass that figure by a significant margin.
Why are elections now part of the debate?
The reason lies in Spain’s electoral system. Anyone who obtains Spanish citizenship through the Ley de Nietos and meets the relevant requirements can, in principle, also take part in Spanish elections. For Spaniards living abroad, the CERA, the electoral register for Spaniards resident overseas, is particularly important.
This is precisely where the criticism from the PP and Vox comes in. The opposition points to the sharp increase in the CERA electoral register and is calling on the government to provide detailed information on how many new registrations are attributable to the Ley de Memoria Democrática and how the new voters are assigned to the respective constituencies.
According to figures that have recently been discussed publicly, the CERA electoral register had more than 2.7 million registered voters as of May 2026.
PP speaks of “electoral engineering”
The Partido Popular sees the development as a cause for concern. The party argues that a rapidly growing electoral register could have an impact on the distribution of seats in the Spanish Parliament, particularly in closely contested constituencies.
The PP has now referred to possible “electoral engineering”, meaning a form of political influence over the composition of the electorate. Vox has gone even further, using the term “pucherazo electoral” – a Spanish expression referring to electoral fraud or a rigged election.
However, there is no proven evidence of actual electoral fraud. The opposition’s allegations are political accusations and are not the result of any established electoral manipulation.
2.5 million applications do not mean 2.5 million new voters
This figure should be treated with caution. An application for citizenship simply means that a procedure has been initiated. Not every application automatically results in registration as a Spanish citizen and, consequently, eligibility to vote.
The number of people who have actually been registered as Spanish citizens is also significantly lower than the millions sometimes cited in the political debate.
It has also been pointed out that the claim circulating on social media that more than 2.5 million “foreigners” have obtained Spanish citizenship under the legislation, with voting rights automatically attached, is misleading. The figure includes different stages of the application process and should not be equated with the number of people who have already been granted Spanish citizenship.
Can the legislation actually change election results?
In theory, it could have an impact. A large influx of additional voters could be particularly significant in constituencies where seats are decided by only a small number of votes.
The key question, however, is: how many of the newly naturalised Spaniards will actually vote – and for whom? At present, there is no way of answering that question. It would therefore be wrong to draw conclusions about a particular election outcome based solely on the number of applications. Nor is there any solid evidence that the newly naturalised Spaniards would predominantly vote for the PSOE.
At this point, the political debate is partly based on assumptions about how these voters might behave in future elections.
Dispute over constituency allocation
In addition to the sheer number of new citizens, the parties are also concerned with another question: which constituency will newly naturalised Spaniards living abroad be assigned to? This is precisely where further political and administrative clarification is needed.
Spain’s Central Electoral Commission (Junta Electoral Central) has addressed these questions and called for greater clarity on the criteria used for constituency allocation. This shows that there are genuine questions surrounding the practical implementation of the system, but it does not mean that the electoral authority has found evidence of electoral fraud.
It is therefore important to distinguish between two entirely different issues: administrative questions surrounding the correct allocation of voters on the one hand, and the political allegation of a rigged election on the other.
The PP also faces pressure to justify its position
The PP’s current criticism is also politically difficult to justify entirely. The Spanish right has previously supported comparable measures aimed at recognising the citizenship of descendants of Spanish emigrants. The current dispute is therefore less about the principle of granting citizenship to descendants of Spaniards and more about the scale of the current scheme and the way it is being implemented.
The PP argues that the original purpose of the legislation has been broadened through subsequent interpretations of the regulations.
An issue of particular importance for Spain and Latin America
The scale of the Ley de Nietos is particularly evident in Latin America. Demand is especially high in countries with historic Spanish migrant communities. Argentina is among the countries with the highest number of applications. Mexico also plays a significant role. By the end of March, more than 117,000 applications had been registered there, with more than 45,000 already approved.
For many families, the issue is not primarily about politics, but about restoring a family connection to Spain. That is precisely why the current political debate is particularly sensitive: what some see as historical redress and the restoration of a lost right is viewed by others as a potentially far-reaching change to Spain’s electoral register.
No evidence of a “pucherazo”
The political dispute is likely to remain a major issue in Spain in the run-up to the next general election. The figures are indeed extraordinary: millions of applications, hundreds of thousands of approved cases and a significantly growing electoral register for Spaniards living abroad. However, these figures do not provide evidence of any planned electoral fraud.
The Ley de Nietos is a legal provision that allows people to acquire Spanish citizenship under certain conditions. The fact that newly naturalised Spaniards are subsequently eligible to vote, in principle, is a consequence of their citizenship – not, in itself, evidence of political manipulation.
One thing is clear, however: the larger the number of new citizens becomes, the greater the political significance of the legislation will be. And that is precisely why the “Ley de Nietos” is likely to remain a major source of controversy in the run-up to Spain’s next general election.
