A law designed to grant Spanish citizenship to descendants of expatriates has become the centre of an increasingly bitter political dispute, with right-wing opposition parties accusing the left-leaning government of attempting to influence next year’s election by expanding the electorate.
Government figures show that 544,722 people have already obtained Spanish citizenship under the legislation, which was approved in 2022. Of those, around 306,000 have since been added to the electoral register.
A further 650,000 applications are currently being processed, while at least another 1.2 million remain awaiting assessment. According to the government, more than 90% of applications are approved, although the entire process is expected to take four to five years — well beyond the current parliamentary term.
The scale of demand has been particularly striking in Latin America, where historical ties to Spain remain strong. Official data shows Spanish consulates in Argentina have received 1.5 million applications, while almost 800,000 have been submitted in Cuba, reflecting generations of emigration caused by civil war and economic hardship.
This week, right-wing and far-right politicians accused the socialist-led government, without providing evidence, of manipulating the processing of applications by prioritising countries whose new citizens were considered less likely to back the opposition.
They also alleged the government was encouraging newly enfranchised voters to register in key electoral battlegrounds to maximise parliamentary seats. On Tuesday, the far-right Vox party called for overseas postal voting to be suspended.
The accusations mirror unfounded claims of electoral fraud previously made by Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, and US President Donald Trump.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is facing mounting pressure to call an early general election before the scheduled deadline of August 2027, as his minority government struggles with parliamentary deadlock and corruption scandals involving members of his inner circle. ALSO READ: Pedro Sánchez rejects claims of ‘widespread corruption’ amid growing pressure on government.
Current opinion polls indicate the right-wing People’s Party (PP) would emerge as the largest party, although it would likely need Vox’s backing to form a government. ALSO READ: Andalusia leaves Sánchez politically weakened as Spain edges further towards a PP-Vox era.
‘Since the numbers don’t add up for [Sánchez] with the current voters, he’s going to see if manufacturing voters will,’ PP leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo said on Monday.
The government dismissed Feijóo’s allegation as ‘profoundly irresponsible’, insisting it has no control over where newly naturalised citizens choose to register to vote. It also noted that the application period for the citizenship scheme closed last October.
Ministers further accused opposition parties of confusing the citizenship legislation with Spain’s separate three-month migrant regularisation programme, which grants legal residency — but neither citizenship nor voting rights — to undocumented migrants. That response came after Vox suggested the residency scheme was another attempt to alter Spain’s electoral balance. ALSO READ: Deadline day for Spain’s mass migrant regularisation as over one million apply for legal status.
As part of the Democratic Memory law, the citizenship legislation expands on a 2007 measure that allowed the grandchildren of around half a million people exiled during Spain’s 1936–39 Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship of Francisco Franco, as well as first-generation descendants of Spaniards living abroad, to obtain citizenship.
The 2022 reform broadened eligibility further by extending citizenship rights to the adult children of people who obtained nationality under the 2007 law. It also covered descendants of individuals persecuted because of their political beliefs or sexual orientation, together with women who lost their Spanish citizenship after marrying foreign nationals during the Franco dictatorship, and their children.
Spain is not alone in offering citizenship through family ancestry. Several European countries, including Italy, Ireland, Poland and Hungary, also allow grandchildren of expatriate citizens to acquire nationality.
Despite the large overseas Spanish community, official figures show turnout among expatriate voters remains relatively low. Just 9% of Spain’s 2.3 million citizens living abroad cast ballots in the 2023 general election.
Although overseas voting has favoured the socialists in some regional elections this year, the party has nevertheless suffered significant losses in overall support.
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