[1] The 1897 elections were held during the autocratic rule of Croatian ban Károly Khuen-Héderváry.
Héderváry's supporters had won the parliament majority in each of the three previous elections held during his reign, in 1884, 1887 and 1892.
[2] 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.
[3] 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.
[2][4][5] 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.