On September 24, 2025, in the Historic Aula Magna of the Department of Law at the University of Pisa, the seminar “Constitutional Courts and Electoral Integrity: Navigating Challenges, Shaping Prospects” was held, organised within the framework of the Jean Monnet Module Promoting and Strengthening EU Values, coordinated by Prof. Angioletta Sperti, Academic Chair of the Democracy Hub for the University of Pisa.
The initiative, which involved the partner universities of the Circle U. Alliance, featured Prof. Dan Banik, Director of the Circle U. Democracy Hub, as keynote speaker. In the afternoon, a roundtable was held with the participation of young scholars (post-docs and PhD candidates), selected through a call for papers promoted by Circle-U.
Prof. Giovanni Gronchi, Giovanni Federico Gronchi Vice Rector for Cooperation and International Relations of the University of Pisa and Chair of the Management Board of Circle U. delivered the greetings and welcome of the Alliance to the participants.
The workshop addressed a crucial theme for contemporary representative democracy: safeguarding the integrity of electoral processes in a context marked by the rise of populism and the impact of political campaigns conducted through social media and other digital channels. Prof. Banik’s keynote speech, together with the contributions presented during the roundtable, offered an analysis of recent jurisprudential cases and highlighted the challenges that constitutional courts face in safeguarding the founding values of the European Union and national constitutions, particularly on politically sensitive issues such as the legitimacy of electoral campaigns and electoral processes.
