A post-election survey on voter behaviour and democracy is currently being carried out by the Fiji National University (FNU) as part of the Youth Voter and Elections Education project.
The survey is being carried out by the College of Humanities and Education (CHE), Department of Ethics and Governance of the School of Arts and Humanities (SAH). The survey involves interviewing more than 1000 respondents residing in the areas of the Central, Western and Northern Divisions, through the questionnaire methodology.
Project coordinator and FNU Assistant Professor, Dr Mosmi Bhim said the survey aimed to gauge the knowledge and interest of voters regarding access to information in the lead-up to Fiji’s 2022 General Election.
“The survey on ‘Voter Behaviour and Attitudes for Democracy’ seeks to gather data on the participation, attitudes and behaviour of the voters in regards to the General Election held in Fiji on 14 December 2022,” she stated.
“The survey commenced in the Northern division with the interview of respondents from 5-8 April 2023 in the Labasa and Savusavu areas. The Central Division component of the survey is currently underway, where data is expected to be collected through questionnaire interviews till first week of May 2023. The Western Division component of the survey is expected to be carried out later in May 2023,” said Dr Bhim.
“The set of questions are derived from Module 6 of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) project, which has an international database hosted by the University of Michigan in USA.”
“The dataset will be shared with CSES, who will make it available on their international website, alongside the data from other countries worldwide. These two original datasets will be the primary data and will form the basis of any subsequent secondary reports or publications arising out of the survey results.”
She added that all respondents to the questionnaires will be anonymous.
The Youth Voter and Elections Education project is funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project is carried out in collaboration with the Fijian Elections Office (FEO).
