The Third Chamber (Administrative Litigation) of the Supreme Court has issued a precautionary suspension of the electoral effects linked to the “Grandchildren Law” (eighth additional provision of the Democratic Memory Law).
The decision comes in response to appeals filed against a ministerial instruction that arbitrarily broadened the criteria applied in consulates following the law’s entry into force. The instruction in question applied a blanket presumption of exile status to those who emigrated from Spain between 1936 and 1955, without requiring exhaustive individual verification of the cause for exile.
The Supreme Court states that the “extraordinary increase” in registrations on the Census of Absent-Resident Electors (CERA) poses a risk to “electoral transparency and public trust.”
The magistrates point out that there is reasonable doubt as to whether the census registrations resulting from the presumptive application of that instruction comply strictly with the law and whether the Central Electoral Board (JEC) acted correctly in its oversight.
The ruling does not suspend or annul the granting of Spanish nationality to the beneficiaries of the law, nor does it freeze processing files currently underway. However, individuals who have acquired nationality through this route are temporarily excluded from the electoral roll for upcoming elections pending a definitive ruling on the merits of the case.
Nevertheless, applicants who can individually prove with documentary evidence that they are descendants of exiles or victims of persecution will retain their right to register on the electoral roll, as provided for by law.
