Spanish-Born Activist Finally Votes After Years of Fighting for Citizenship Rights

Safia El Aaddam launched the "Te cedo mi voto" campaign in 2019 to denounce cases of citizens like her who, although born in Spain, cannot vote because they do not have Spanish nationality. On May 28, she will exercise her right to vote for the first time, but many others will not have this privilege. In Spain, a baby does not obtain nationality because it is born on Spanish soil, but rather inherits the nationality of its parents, with a few exceptions. Safia therefore obtained Moroccan nationality from her parents at birth and initiated the process to obtain Spanish nationality when she reached the age of majority. But the constant administrative obstacles have delayed the process until last year, reports El Diario.

The activist finally obtained her Spanish passport at the age of 27, after nearly ten years of administrative battle. "I spent too much time fighting for a right that has been taken away from me since birth. I was born in Spain, but I obtained Spanish nationality at the age of 27. This seems unfair to me because I know that there are thousands and thousands of people who will continue not to be able to vote, there will always be many obstacles in the immigration offices. There is a lot to be done," confides Safia, specifying that she will vote on May 28 "with the awareness of electing someone who is truly committed to the fight against racism and the rights of migrants".

The young woman says she has lived, "powerless", the last elections. "Politicians leave aside more than five million people, including daughters of immigrants born in Spain... We are not talking about tourists, but people born in Spain or who have lived here for years and fulfill all their obligations," she explains. And to add: "In Spain, if you do not have Spanish nationality, you cannot vote. You cannot vote if you inherit the legal status of your parents, that is, if your parents are in an irregular situation, you will be in an irregular situation even if you were born in Spain... And the nationality application procedure can simply cost you 400 euros."

Safia recalls that, contrary to what some officials claimed, the identity card (NIE) is not equivalent to Spanish nationality. "We realized that having an NIE is not the same as having Spanish nationality, because the former deprives you of many rights: you cannot work for the State, vote, benefit from scholarships like Erasmus..." she develops, stressing that for the May 28 elections, nearly 300 people gave up their right to vote. In her fight against racism, she says she has met people who have been living in Spain for 30 or 40 years and have never been able to vote because of "the dictatorship of racism".