1897 Croatian parliamentary election

none Parliamentary elections were held in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia from 19 to 22 May 1897. The People's Party emerged as the victor.Stjepan Matković: Čista stranka prava i stranački izbori na prijelazu 19. u 20. stoljeće, Hrvatski institut za povijest, Zagreb, p. 86-87 Background The 1897 elections were held during the autocratic rule of Croatian ban Károly Khuen-Héderváry. His primary task as the ban of Croatia was to preserve the Croatian-Hungarian union. Héderváry had maintained good relations with the Hungarian Liberal Party, while he relied on the People's Party in Croatia to maintain the status quo. Héderváry's supporters had won the parliament majority in each of the three previous elections held during his reign, in 1884, 1887 and 1892. At the time of the election, the People's Party held the parliamentary majority.Matković Stjepan Parliamentary elections at the turn of the nineteenth century in Croatia Parliaments, Estates and Representation 2002 22 1 193–194 10.1080/02606755.2002.9522150 143017226 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02606755.2002.9522150 27 December 2020 subscription Under the electoral law, only 2% of the nation's citizens could vote, i.e. men over thirty years old, who could pay 30 forints in tax.Matković Stjepan Saborski izbori 1897. godine u koprivničkom i novigradskom kotaru Radovi: Radovi Zavoda za hrvatsku povijest Filozofskoga fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu 1997 30 1 155 https://hrcak.srce.hr/40045 27 December 2020 Furthermore, Héderváry had gerrymandered the districts to favour different ethnic groups and resorted to divide and rule policies, stoking antagonism between the Serbs and the Croats, as he suspected that any cooperation between them might threaten Austro-Hungarian interests in the Balkans and allow expansion of the Kingdom of Serbia into the empire's territories inhabited by the South Slavs. Mark Biondich Mark Biondich Stjepan Radić, the Croat Peasant Party, and the Politics of Mass Mobilization, 1904-1928 0-8020-4727-0 University of Toronto Press Toronto 2000 https://books.google.com/books?id=dZBgIIZ18WMC 96 https://books.google.com/books?id=_kCBCwAAQBAJ On the Eve of the Great War: Political concepts, conspiracies and theories Arnold Suppan Arnold Suppan Gregor Antolčič Andrej Rahten Petra Svoljšak Založba ZRC Ljubljana 2015 9789612547622 29 Ban Khuen-Héderváry was unpopular with large groups of Croatian citizens for several reasons: he had suppressed Croatian nationalism, aimed at magyarization of the railways and administration, imposing the Hungarian language at schools, settling Hungarian people in areas of Croatia, as well as lessening local autonomy.Matković Stjepan Izbori za Hrvatski sabor 1897 godine: afirmacija Khuenove autokracije Časopis za suvremenu povijest 1997 29 3 469 https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=312842 27 December 2020 Campaign The People's Party presented itself as allies of Héderváry and the Croatian-Hungarian Party. The opposition to the People's Party was at the time fragmented, as the Party of Rights had split into the mainstream Party of Rights (also known as Domovinaši) and the minority Pure Party of Rights. In August 1896, the Domovinaši and the Independent People's Party formed a coalition. Another opposition party was the Social Democratic Party of Croatia and Slavonia; however, due to their small size they were not a major player in the elections. Results People's Party 59 –18 Unified Opposition 2 Party of Rights 15 +7 Independent People's Party 11 New Pure Party of Rights 2 New Independents 1 0 0 Elected representatives Party of Rights Josip Frank Mile Starčević Sources Ivo Perić: Hrvatski državni sabor: 1848-2000, GIPA, Zagreb 2002. References Category:Elections in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia Croatia Parliamentary Croatia Category:Election and referendum articles with incomplete results