In İspanya, the 'Torunlar Yasası' Raises Election Concerns

In İspanya, serious concerns are growing within the headquarters of the People's Party (PP) in recent weeks regarding the potential electoral effects of a regulation known as the 'Torunlar Yasası'. Under this law, which grants fast-track citizenship rights to the grandchildren of victims of the civil war and the frankizm era, it is estimated that approximately 2,5 million people could acquire İspanyol citizenship. Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo and his team allege that the government is intentionally using this process to alter the voter pool in its own favor. The PP administration describes the government's move as 'election engineering' carried out solely to gain new voters. At a time when the government is approving the macroeconomic framework and processes related to the budget presentation are ongoing, the question of when the elections will be held remains a hot topic on the political agenda.

The government's lack of transparent data sharing regarding the process further fuels the opposition's suspicions. According to the limited data obtained so far, citizenship applications are being processed very rapidly, and a large portion of the applications are being met with approval. Thanks to the ability to immediately register newly naturalized individuals on the voter registry, this situation will allow them to vote directly in the approaching elections. PP officials argue that, unlike the mass unsupervised immigrant regularization policies they criticized in the past, the 'Torunlar Yasası' will have a much faster and clearer impact on the voter registry. Alma Ezcurra, the party's official responsible for immigration policies, states that these processes initiated by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez are facing their party's harshest criticisms.

Feijóo increased the intensity of his criticisms by explicitly stating that the Moncloa Sarayı wants to change the voter registry and add 2,5 million new voters to the system. According to the People's Party, the government's current plans and figures indicate that they are forming a broad majority for the right wing in the upcoming elections. Therefore, the PP demands that the process be conducted with complete transparency and that documents proving family origins be examined with a guarantorist approach. Furthermore, the possibility of the government deciding in which province the new voters will cast their ballots is seen as a major source of concern. PP sources suggest that the government is trying to manipulate the system by assigning new voters to the regions that are most politically advantageous to itself.

This tension in İspanya politics brings about a broader right-wing bloc debate that encompasses not only the main opposition party but also the Vox party. Vox has been opposing this change in the voter registry for months, warning of potential election fraud and 'vote manipulation'. Regarding this issue, which was brought back to the agenda in the Kongre in recent weeks, Vox spokespersons demanded the immediate suspension of the citizenship directive targeting the descendants of 19th-century immigrants. The parties are highly determined to appeal to the Anayasa Mahkemesi on the grounds that an administrative order cannot override a law approved by the parliament. This tough political stance also shows that Madrid Topluluğu President Isabel Díaz Ayuso and her team similarly and clearly reflect the party's sensitivity regarding the 'Torunlar Yasası'.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, in her recent warnings sent to consulates, emphasized that granting citizenship to unauthorized individuals would be an illegal act. She raised the possibility that consuls and officials who abuse their authority could face legal proceedings over this situation. Ayuso's team expresses its concerns on this matter by highlighting the application processes in the capital of Arjantin, Buenos Aires. The fact that approximately 650.000 citizenship applications have been processed in Buenos Aires carries the potential to make the city the third-largest electoral district in İspanya. All these political developments show that the fate of the approaching elections in İspanya depends not only on local politics but also on how the historical demands of the diaspora rooted in the past are managed.