Sintering behavior, distribution of dopant oxides and electrical properties in the ZnO-Bi2O3-CoO-Sb2O3 and ZnO-Bi2O3-CoO-Sb2O3-Cr2O3 systems were studied. The linear shrinkage of ZnO varistors from 850 to 950$^{circ}C$ was related to the decomposition reaction (pylongrightarrowsp+Bi2O3) of the pyrochlore phase. In the distribution of the dopant oxides (CoO, Sb2O3, Cr2O3), Co distribute uniformly throughout the sample, the distribution of Sb coincided with small particles (spinel phase, Zn7Sb2O12), and Cr distributed very consistently with Sb. The increase in breakdown voltage, due to the addition of Cr2O3, was not only attributed to the decrease in the ZnO grain size but also to the solution of Cr2O3 in the spinel phase. The leakage current (80% V60 ${mu} extrm{A}$) was increased by the addition of Cr2O3.