The Electoral Board toughens requirements and forces those naturalized by the 'grandchildren's law' to prove their roots to choose where they vote

The Central Electoral Board (JEC) has this Thursday tightened the conditions for Spaniards residing abroad to choose the municipality to which they are electorally linked. The decision especially affects those who have obtained nationality through the so-called 'grandchildren's law' and have never lived in Spain.

From now on, these electors will have to prove with documents their personal or family ties to the chosen locality. This affiliation is decisive because the municipality sets the province and, with it, the constituency in which the vote is counted and seats are distributed.

The measure applies to the Electoral Roll of Absent Residents (CERA), which includes Spaniards who live permanently outside the country. It will also apply to those who have resided in Spain and wish to register in a municipality different from their last domicile.

The JEC has adopted, with some modifications, the recommendations of the Electoral Census Office (OCE), dependent on the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The electoral body had already warned in July that the choice of municipality should be "sufficiently motivated" and respond to common criteria in all consulates.

The regulations in force since 2011 establish that residents abroad who have lived in Spain must generally be assigned to their last municipality. To choose another, they must submit an explanatory declaration accompanied by documentation. The gap was found in those who had never resided in the country, who could opt for the locality with the strongest personal ties or those of their ancestors without it being detailed how they should demonstrate that link.

With the new instructions, birth certificates, Civil Registry documents, historical registers, deeds, cadastral data, rental contracts, utility bills, tax documents, or any other proof that allows accrediting a real relationship with the municipality may be used. Consular officials must check the documentation, incorporate it into the file, and record the verification.

When the elector does not indicate any locality, the consular office will have to assign it ex officio using the information available in their naturalization file. Until now, this possibility was hardly used and, in practice, it was the voters themselves who always decided their municipality of registration.

The JEC rules out reviewing all previous registrations

The reinforcement of controls will have effects on new registrations and modifications processed in the CERA. The proposal to review ex officio registrations made during the last four years has not prospered. The initiative, proposed by one of the Board members, sought to retroactively demand any missing documentation from previous files.

The decision also does not involve reviewing nationalities granted under the Democratic Memory Law. The JEC limits its action to the formation of the census and the constituency where each elector votes. The validity of naturalizations and the controversies surrounding the 'grandchildren's law' follow their own administrative and judicial course.

According to data provided by the Government in a parliamentary response to Vox, 82.54% of those registered in the CERA who had previously resided in Spain were listed in their last municipality. The remaining 17.46% had chosen a different locality. This difference, by itself, does not prove any irregularity, as the regulations allow changing municipalities when there is a justified connection.

The instruction comes amid a political and judicial dispute over the scope of the 'grandchildren's law,' included in the 2022 Democratic Memory Law to facilitate access to nationality for descendants of Spaniards. While these procedures are resolved, those who wish to choose from abroad the constituency where they will vote must bring concrete proof of the family tie they claim to the consulate.