1974 Shahsavar by-election

At the time, the ruling New Iran Party led by Prime Minister Amir-Abbas Hoveyda held the absolute majority in the parliament and its opposition, the People's Party, was regarded a "pseudo-opposition" party loyal to the state.^[1] The representative of Shahsavar in Mazandaran province who had been appointed to a cabinet office, resigned his seat due to legal requirements.^[2] In October 1974, the newly appointed Minister of Interior Jamshid Amouzegar chose his deputy ministers, neither of whom having any experience in holding elections.^[2] The next general elections were scheduled in less than a year and though it was not legally mandatory for the government to hold an election for that vacancy, Amouzegar decided to use the occasion to gain experience.^[2] Iran's monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi agreed that the election could to be held, stating "They will tell you I prefer this man or that woman, this party or that party. This is false. What I want is a clean election".^[2]

Nasser Ameri, the new secretary-general of the People's Party, had become overly critical of the governing party to the extent it was perceived to had "endangered the legitimacy of the system".^[3] He initially instructed the local of branch of his party in Shahsavar to boycott the by-election for the vacated seat^[3] but then was able to persuade the government to allow his party campaign freely.^[1] People's Party launched a serious campaign for its candidate, which focused on criticizing the government's ability to "implement efficiently the shah's intentions (manviat-e shahaneh)".^[4] The party's candidate Mohammad-Reza Kabiri also acted like a real opposition candidate (in contrast to his role as a "pseudo-opposition") during the campaign and even condemned the administration of Hoveyda.^[1] This led the city to undergo an "election fever", and both parties sent several of their leaders to the city to boost the campaign.^[1][4] This was a sign that the New Iran Party's candidate might lose the election, though the former representative of the constituency from the ruling party had won the previous election by a wide margin.^[4]