The so-called "Grandchildren's Law" —the eighth additional provision of the Law of Democratic Memory— has sparked an intense political battle in Spain, with mutual accusations regarding whether the Government of Pedro Sánchez is using mass naturalizations to manipulate the electoral roll ahead of the upcoming general elections.
The leader of the Popular Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, made the most direct accusation to date in an interview with EsRadio on Monday: "What lies behind this is a clear interest in gaining new voters. Since the current voters don't add up, let's see if by manufacturing voters I can make the numbers work." The PP's offensive, reported by ABC and the EFE agency, marks an escalation in the position of the main opposition party, which until now had maintained a more cautious tone.
The President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, went further and directly warned consular officials: “Every consul and every official who grants nationality to someone who does not deserve it must know that they would also be doing something illegal. And that is our warning.” Ayuso also alerted that Buenos Aires could become the third Spanish constituency by number of votes, given that the five Argentinian consulates have accumulated 462,815 nationality applications.
The Government responded through its spokesperson, Elma Saiz, labeling Feijóo's statements as "a major irresponsibility" and defending the regulation as a measure based "on the principles of restitution and justice" for the Spaniards who left the country due to the Franco dictatorship.
The PP Member of the European Parliament Alma Ezcurra, who is responsible for the party's immigration area, expanded on the allegations on social media: "When we want to know if someone is manipulating an election, we always look at the ballots, the boxes, or the counting process. But there is a quieter way: deciding who enters the electoral roll." Ezcurra also pointed out that the Government may have hired the company Ineco —linked to the former partner of ex-minister Ábalos— to outsource the process and reach a million nationalities granted by 2027.
Vox has been making the most extreme accusation for months, denouncing a possible "vote rigging." Its spokesperson requested on Monday to provisionally suspend the Ministry of Justice's instruction granting nationality to descendants of 19th-century emigrants, arguing that an administrative order cannot change a law passed by the Cortes. The party has already challenged the 2022 Democratic Memory Law before the Constitutional Court.
The controversy has a particularly significant dimension for Cuba. According to an investigation by ABC, the Spanish Government awarded contracts worth 1.6 million euros to Grupo Palco, a company subordinate to the Cuban Council of Ministers and linked to the military conglomerate GAESA, to hire 107 support workers for the Spanish consulate in Havana. The leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, summarized the situation on social media on June 22: "Paying the Cuban dictatorship to help with its vote-rigging."
The problem is exacerbated because Cuba is not a signatory to the Hague Convention, which makes it difficult to independently verify the authenticity of the documents required to prove Spanish ancestry. The consulate in Havana has accumulated more than 137,700 official files, with estimates raising the figure to as many as 350,000 initiated applications, and applicants receive responses such as: "Due to the volume of files, this process may take several months."
Globally, nearly 2.5 million people have applied for citizenship through this process since the law came into effect in October 2022. The deadline for new applications officially closed on October 22, 2025, but the flow of resolutions—around 34,000 just in the first quarter of 2026—keeps the debate alive. The denial rate stands at only 1.3%, and the organization Iustitia Europa filed a complaint on Monday with the Central Electoral Board questioning the criteria for assigning voting provinces to the newly naturalized citizens, warning that the census of Spaniards abroad has already exceeded 3.2 million registered.
Filed under: