La disciplina delle campagne elettorali tra obsolescenza normativa e innovazioni tecnologiche

The contribution will first clarify the fundamental constitutional principles governing the regulation of elec-tion campaigns. In light of these principles, it will be seen how the current Italian legislation on election expenses relating to political election campaigns (Law No. 515 of 1993) is seriously outdated and largely ineffective, as will be demonstrated by a number of case studies. Similarly, Law No. 28 of 2000, which was designed for access to radio and television media, is largely inadequate for the new context of digital cam-paigning. The monitoring of compliance with the rules governing election campaigns is also at risk of being compromised by the lack of coordination between the large number of supervisory bodies involved. In con-trast to a national legislative framework that has remained largely unchanged for 25 years, the European legislator has recently taken a highly innovative step with EU Regulation 2024/900 (on transparency and targeting of political advertising), has sought to ensure minimum levels of transparency in election campaigns by laying down specific rules for online election propaganda and prohibiting election funding from entities outside the Union. However, although the Regulation is not limited to European elections, it does not ex-empt national legislators from overcoming the current shortcomings in the regulatory framework.