Spain’s Parliament backs citizenship for Western Saharans born before 1977

By Anadolu and Reuters. Published On 10 Sep 202610 Sep 2026.

Key points

• Although the exact number of beneficiaries is unknown, Sahrawi groups estimate that between 70, 000 and 120, 000 individuals could benefit from the legislation.
• Spain's lower house of Parliament on Thursday approved the legislation 168-31, with 145 abstentions.
• The text grants Spanish nationality to Sahrawis born before September 29, 1977 and to their children through naturalisation, even if they never resided in Spain.
• When Spain relinquished its administration under agreements with Morocco and Mauritania, western Sahara was a Spanish colony until 1975.
• The Algerian-backed Polisario Front independence movement seeks recognition ⁠of an independent state called the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Spanish lawmakers have backed legislation that would grant citizenship to tens of thousands of Western Saharans who were born when Spain ran the disputed territory now largely controlled by Morocco.

Spain's lower house of Parliament on Thursday approved the legislation 168-31, with 145 abstentions. The bill still requires Senate approval before becoming law.

In practice, the text grants Spanish nationality to Sahrawis born before September 29, 1977 and to their children through naturalisation, even if they never resided in Spain.

Although the exact number of beneficiaries is unknown, Sahrawi groups estimate that between 70, 000 and 120, 000 individuals could benefit from the legislation. It supporters described as addressing a "historical injustice" by colonial Spain in the Western Sahara.

Notably, the vote comes at a particularly sensitive time for Madrid's historically delicate relations with Rabat due to the migration crisis in Spain's north African territory of Ceuta, and the mass arrival of at least 70, 000 migrants from Morocco in July.

Spain's leftist administration has avoided blaming Morocco – which does not recognise Spanish sovereignty over Ceuta and Spain's other North African territory of Melilla – but the right accuses Rabat of orchestrating the surge for political motives.

Morocco claims sovereignty over Western Sahara and began asserting control over the territory after Spanish ⁠rule concluded.

In practice, the Algerian-backed Polisario Front independence movement seeks recognition ⁠of an independent state called the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

While others remain in Western Sahara, plenty of Sahrawis live in refugee camps in Tindouf in western Algeria, or elsewhere abroad.

Against this backdrop, the initiative to grant Spanish nationality to Sahrawis has divided opinion in Morocco but not prompted condemnation from the administration.

As saying in July that Rabat had "no problem" with Sahrawis obtaining Spanish citizenship, moroccan media quoted Ramadan Messaoud, a member of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs. Others had done so "over the past few years", observed Messaoud. This person is additionally president of the Sahrawi Association for Human Rights.

Spain's ruling Socialist Party and its junior left-wing partner Sumar. It filed the initiative, were among those who backed the bill, ‌while the opposition conservative People's Party abstained and far-right Vox voted against it.

"With the adoption of this legislation, we are restoring – and I emphasise, restoring – the Spanish national identity card to those Sahrawis who once held it and from whom this state took it away, " remarked Tesh Sidi of the leftist Sumar coalition, the first woman of Sahrawi origin ⁠to serve in Spain's Parliament.

Meanwhile, the bill will now go to the Senate, where amendments are projected, before returning to the lower house for final approval.

In short, spain's Parliament backs citizenship for Western Saharans born before 1977 is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.