A Spaniard who permanently resides in Argentina, France, Mexico, or any other country can retain their Spanish nationality and participate in certain elections. However, since 2011, Spaniards residing abroad cannot vote in municipal elections merely by being registered as absent residents.
The limitation was introduced through a reform of the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime (LOREG) approved during the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Parliamentary documentation estimates that there are more than 1.4 million Spaniards registered in the Census of Spaniards Resident Abroad (CERA) who were left without the right to vote in these elections.
The modification was incorporated into the Organic Law 2/2011, of January 28. Among other changes, it added a section 3 to article 2 of the LOREG, according to which, for municipal elections —including councils, island councils, General Boards, and the General Council of the Valley of Arán— it was essential to be registered in the Census of Spaniards Resident in Spain (CER).
The consequence was that Spaniards registered in the CERA were excluded from the municipal electoral census.
The reform reached Congress in October 2010
On October 16, 2010, during Zapatero's second term, the Organic Law Proposal 122/000254 was registered in Congress, aimed at modifying the LOREG. The initiative was initially presented by the Socialist, Popular, Catalan (Convergència i Unió), and Basque (EAJ-PNV) groups. The parliamentary processing of the proposal is recorded in the official bulletins of the Cortes.
Subsequently, the Popular Group withdrew its signature and the initiative continued its processing with the Socialist, Catalan, and Basque groups.
The registered text expressly set the new requirement: “In the case of municipal elections (...) it is essential for its exercise to be registered in the Census of Spaniards Resident in Spain”. The reform also modified article 75 of the LOREG, relating to the vote of Spaniards residing abroad, and repealed article 190, which until then regulated the voting procedure of absent residents in municipal elections.
Therefore, the change did not simply consist of modifying the way of voting from abroad. The possibility of participating in municipal elections for those registered as absent residents was eliminated.
The Constitutional Court would later describe the modification as a “restriction of the right to vote in municipal elections and to the island councils of Spaniards residing abroad”.
The background: a report requested by the Zapatero Government
The parliamentary reform had a previous background. On June 27, 2008, the Council of Ministers agreed to request a report from the Council of State a report on the proposals for modification of the general electoral regime. The Government itself justified the request at that time due to the open debate on a possible reform of the electoral system.
The Council of State approved its report on February 24, 2009. A month later, the Council of Ministers took note of the document and agreed to send it to Congress. The official reference from the Government itself recalls that it was the report whose preparation had been requested through the agreement of June 2008.
The report addressed, among other issues, the vote of Spaniards residing abroad and the relationship between voting in local elections and effective residence. The reasoning was based on the special nature of municipal elections and the constitutional link between councilors and neighbors.
Years later, when resolving the appeal against the 2011 reform, the Constitutional Court placed that report “at the origin of the electoral reform of 2011”.
The sequence, therefore, allows us to distinguish the different steps: the Zapatero Government requested the report, the Council of State made its considerations, and subsequently, the Cortes approved the modification of the LOREG during that same Government.
from 2008 to 2026: the timeline
June 27, 2008. The Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero requests a report from the Council of State on the proposals to modify the general electoral regime.
February 24, 2009. The Council of State approves its report. The Government subsequently sends it to Congress.
October 16, 2010. The Organic Law Proposal 122/000254 is registered in Congress, initially presented by PSOE, PP, CiU, and PNV. The PP would later withdraw its signature.
December 2010-January 2011. Congress and Senate process and approve the reform that introduces the requirement of registration in the CER to vote in municipal elections and eliminates the specific procedure for municipal voting of absent residents.
January 28-29, 2011. The Organic Law 2/2011 is sanctioned and published, which incorporates the modification to the LOREG.
September 25, 2014. The Constitutional Court issues the STC 153/2014 and endorses the constitutionality of the reform.
October 25, 2022. Sofía Puente issues the instruction to develop the eighth additional provision of the Democratic Memory Law regarding the acquisition of nationality.
September 2026. The Supreme Court adopts precautionary measures regarding registrations in the CERA linked to the Grandchildren's Law, without suspending the acquisition of Spanish nationality.
The change affected municipal voting, not all elections
The reform did not eliminate the right of Spaniards residing abroad to participate in all electoral processes. Those registered in the CERA retained the possibility of voting in general elections, regional elections, the Assemblies of Ceuta and Melilla, and the European Parliament, under the terms established by electoral legislation.
The modification specifically affected municipal elections and local electoral processes contemplated in the reform.
The difference remains in the current electoral legislation: article 2.3 of the LOREG establishes that, to exercise the right to vote in municipal elections, it is essential to be registered in the Register of Spaniards Residing in Spain.
The Constitutional Court endorsed the reform
The modification was challenged before the Constitutional Court by the Government of the Canary Islands, which questioned, among other aspects, the requirement of registration in the CER to vote in municipal elections and in the island councils.
The Constitutional Court resolved the appeal through the STC 153/2014, of September 25, and dismissed the challenge. The ruling acknowledges that Organic Law 2/2011 had restricted the voting rights of Spaniards residing abroad in municipal elections and endorsed the legislator's decision to link local voting to residency.
The court considered that the Constitution allows the legislator to modulate the exercise of voting in local elections based on residency, without the right recognized for Spaniards outside of Spain for the elections to the General Courts being automatically extended to municipal elections.
The Grandchildren's Law, now under review by the Supreme Court
The debate on the voting rights of Spaniards residing abroad now has a new aspect with the Grandchildren's Law. The Supreme Court has agreed on precautionary measures regarding the registration in the Electoral Census of Absent Residents (CERA) of those who obtained Spanish nationality under the eighth additional provision of the Democratic Memory Law. The measure does not suspend the acquisition of nationality, but the electoral effects of those registrations while the substance of the procedure is resolved.
The origin of the controversy lies in the instruction of October 25, 2022 issued by Sofía Puente, then Director General of Legal Security and Public Faith, to develop the eighth additional provision of Law 20/2022. The instruction itself states that it establishes guidelines on the exercise and scope of the right of option for nationality and the procedural rules for its processing.
The issue now under judicial review affects the scope of those criteria and their effects on registrations in the CERA. An administrative instruction does not have the rank of law nor can it modify a law approved by the Courts; its function is to develop and apply the regulations within the framework that it establishes. The Supreme Court must determine whether the criteria set in 2022 adhered to that framework and what consequences they have on electoral registrations.
The decision thus introduces a new piece in the history of the voting rights of Spaniards residing abroad: in 2011, a reform of the LOREG excluded the CERA from municipal elections; now, the new registrations derived from the Grandchildren's Law have come under judicial review due to their electoral effects.