First wave surveys 1,673 respondents nationwide, examining voting intentions, political leadership preferences and voter priorities
Suva, Fiji, 30 October 2026
The Centre for Democracy & Dialogue (CDD) today launched the CDD National Opinion Tracker, a nationwide electoral opinion polling initiative designed to provide independent, evidence-based insights into political preferences and voter attitudes in Fiji.
The launch marks the return of national electoral opinion polling following an eight-year gap. The last major publicly reported pre-election opinion polls were conducted in October 2018, ahead of that year’s General Election.
CDD Chief Executive Officer Nilesh Lal said amendments to the Electoral Act introduced in 2022, particularly provisions regulating election-related polling and research, had created a chilling effect on electoral research in Fiji.
“These legislative changes have discouraged independent electoral research, leaving a significant gap in the information available to the public about political attitudes and electoral preferences,” Lal said.
He emphasised the important role of credible opinion polling in liberal democracies.
“Independent opinion polls provide citizens, policymakers, political parties and the media with valuable evidence about what people think, what concerns them and how their political preferences are evolving. They contribute to informed public debate, strengthen democratic accountability and help ensure that political discourse is grounded in evidence rather than speculation.”
About the first wave
The first wave was conducted between September and October 2026, involving 1,673 respondents across Fiji’s four administrative divisions.
The survey examined voting intentions, preferred Prime Minister, certainty of electoral choices and the issues influencing voting decisions.
CDD employed a stratified sampling design comprising 12 strata, based on four geographic divisions and three ethnic categories, using demographic information from the Fiji Bureau of Statistics. Respondents were randomly selected by software from larger selection pools to minimise selection bias, while gender representation was monitored throughout fieldwork.
Interviews were conducted by telephone, and the results were population-weighted to account for differences between the achieved sample and the demographic distribution of Fiji’s adult population.
The Tracker features an interactive online dashboard where the public can explore national results, political party profiles, leadership preferences and demographic breakdowns.
