Spain's electoral census struggles to verify grandchildren-naturalised voters ahead of November election
With the November vote approaching, Spain's Electoral Census Office has confirmed only a tiny fraction of voters who obtained nationality through the grandchildren law, and even fewer have documented exile of ancestors.
As the general election scheduled for 29 November draws near, the Office of the Electoral Census (OCE) has managed to confirm the eligibility of only a marginal portion of voters who gained Spanish citizenship through the grandchildren law, a figure that represents well under one percent of the total. The Supreme Court had previously identified the total number of such naturalised individuals and mandated that they be listed in the Register of Absent Resident Voters (CERA).
However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' initial data transfer contained numerous errors, allowing the OCE to use only a limited set of records. Among the few cases that could be verified, only a small share show documented exile of a parent or grandparent, a prerequisite for voting. The court has set a deadline of 28 October for the ministries of Presidency, Justice, Relations with the Cortes, and Foreign Affairs to submit the complete list, threatening repeated fines for non-compliance. The OCE will subsequently remove from CERA all naturalised voters lacking an exile certificate, and will warn those remaining that their registration is provisional.
Why it matters
The verification shortfall could disenfranchise thousands of naturalised voters in a crucial national election.
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