The Electoral Commission at its meeting held today, deliberated on opinion polls
published for the 2022 General Election. The Electoral Commission has also been
appraised of a recent complaint received regarding public opinion poll being published
by a certain media house.
“Currently, there are no specific guidelines on public opinion polls in an election in Fiji,
but despite this, the Commission has noted that media organizations publish public
opinion polls” explains Mr. Mukesh Nand, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission.
The Electoral Commission noted that both Australia and New Zealand have guiding
documents on public opinion polls and these documents provide comprehensive
instructions and expectations on public opinion poll processes. However, the combined
guidelines published by European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research
(ESOMAR) and World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) is more
appropriate for Fiji.
“Having considered the nature of the impact of opinion polls and the international
standards around public opinion polls, particularly in relation to elections, we have
decided that we will adopt for the purposes of evaluating opinion polls published in Fiji,
the opinion poll guidelines published by ESOMAR/WAPOR”, said Mr Mukesh Nand, the
Chairperson of the Electoral Commission.
The Electoral Commission will be publishing the opinion poll guidelines as well as the key
requirements in relation to election opinion polling developed by ESOMAR/WAPOR on
its website as well as the Fijian Election Office social media and website pages to enable
all interested agencies to refer to and adequately comply with our expectation when it
comes to opinion polling for the 2022 General Election.
The Supervisor of Elections will also rely on these guidelines for his monitoring of the
compliance with the Electoral Act.