Spains lower house of Parliament has approved a law that might give citizenship to many Western Saharans who were born when the area was under Spanish rule.
Lawmakers voted 168 to 31 with 145 people not voting, in favor of the bill on Thursday. The law still needs to pass the Senate before it can be made into a law.
According to the law Sahrawis who were born before September 29 1977 and their children would be able to get citizenship through naturalization. People applying for citizenship would not need to have lived in Spain
It is not clear how many people could benefit from this. Sahrawi groups think between 70,000 and 120,000 people might be eligible.
Those who support the law call it an effort to fix what they believe is a wrong connected to Spains time as a colonizer in Western Sahara.
The vote happened at a time when Spain and Morocco’re in a delicate situation. Spain and Morocco have worked together on trade, security and migration. There have been tensions because of the recent migrant crisis in Ceuta, which is a Spanish area in North Africa.
Morocco says it owns Western Sahara while the Polisario Front, which is supported by Algeria wants the area to be independent and backs the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
Spain stopped being in charge of Western Sahara in 1975 giving up control because of deals with Morocco and Mauritania. The area has been in dispute since.
The citizenship idea has gotten reactions in Morocco but no official complaints have been made. Moroccan officials have said some Sahrawis already have citizenship.
The law was supported by Spains ruling Socialist Party and their left-wing partner, Sumar which brought the idea forward. The Peoples Party didn’t vote, while the far-right Vox was against it.
A Sumar lawmaker who was born in Sahrawi, Tesh Sidi said the law is bringing back an identity that was taken away, from Sahrawis.
The law now goes to the Senate, where changes might be made. Then it could return to the lower house for the final decision.
