Overview
- Lawmakers in the lower house voted 168 in favour, 31 against and 145 abstentions to pass the measure on Thursday, and the text grants nationality to people born in Western Sahara before September 29, 1977 and to their children through naturalisation.
- The bill must win Senate approval before becoming law and could be amended there, while Spain's Supreme Court has provisionally suspended voting rights for some potential beneficiaries pending proof of eligibility.
- Estimates of who would benefit vary widely, with many reports saying roughly 70,000 to 120,000 people could be eligible and some sources suggesting up to about 200,000 once descendants are included.
- The proposal divided Spain's parties, winning backing from the ruling PSOE and Sumar, attracting abstention from the People's Party and opposition from Vox, and critics say it could influence the electoral register ahead of next year's vote.
- The move touches a long unresolved conflict: Spain administered Western Sahara until the mid-1970s, Morocco now controls most of the territory and the Polisario Front seeks Sahrawi independence, which makes the law sensitive for Madrid's ties with Rabat after the July migrant influx into Ceuta.