Spain’s parliament has voted to back a bill that would grant citizenship to tens of thousands of Western Saharans born under Spanish colonial rule. The legislation, which passed on Thursday with 168 votes in favor to 31 against, targets Sahrawis born before September 29, 1977—the date marked as the effective end of Spain's decolonization process—as well as their children.
Under the proposed law, eligible individuals will be able to obtain Spanish nationality through naturalization certificates, even if they do not currently reside in Spain. While the exact number of beneficiaries remains uncertain, estimates suggest that around 80,000 Sahrawis could qualify immediately, with the figure potentially rising to nearly 200,000 when descendants are included. The bill must still secure approval from Spain's Senate. Once officially published, beneficiaries will have a three-year window to submit their applications.
To qualify, applicants must provide documentation proving their status. Acceptable evidence includes formal records like a Spanish ID card, a birth certificate, or an entry in the UN-verified census compiled for a planned but never-held referendum on the territory's status. The law also permits less formal documentation, such as school records, retirement pension papers, Spanish driver's licenses, or medical files.
The bill was championed by Sumar, the junior partner in Spain's leftist coalition government. Sumar lawmaker Tesh Sidi, an engineer born in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, strongly defended the initiative. "We are correcting a historic injustice: cutting the process down to two years once you have legal residence in Spain," Sidi stated. "Until now, Sahrawis had to wait 10, 14, or even 24 years to apply for Spanish nationality, despite having a Spanish father and legal residence." She added that "abstaining or voting no means siding with Morocco."
The vote revealed deep divisions in the Spanish parliament. The main center-right opposition party, the People’s Party (PP), and the Catalan pro-independence party Junts both abstained, while the far-right Vox party voted against the measure. Notably, both PP and Vox had initially supported the bill during its early stages when the governing Socialist Party was hesitant to advance it.
The legislation carries significant geopolitical weight for Spain's relations with Morocco. Western Sahara has been largely under Moroccan control since 1975, though the United Nations still lists it as a non-self-governing territory. The decades-long dispute between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which fights for Sahrawi independence, has long complicated Spanish foreign policy.
In 2022, Madrid abandoned its traditional stance of neutrality to support Rabat’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara. However, Spain's diplomatic approach toward Morocco has faced intense domestic scrutiny, particularly after tens of thousands of migrants made an unprecedented, deadly attempt to cross into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco in late July. While Spain's leftist government has refrained from blaming Moroccan authorities, right-wing parties have accused Rabat of orchestrating the migrant surge for political leverage. Thus far, the citizenship initiative has divided opinion within Morocco but has not drawn official condemnation from its government.
