Effects of 1.0 mol% CoO addition on sintering and the electrical properties of ZnO-Bi2O3-Sb2O3(ZBS) varistor system with 3.0 mol% co-addition of Sb2O3 and Bi2O3 at various Sb/Bi ratio (0.5, 1.0, and 2.0) were investigated. Cobalt had little influence on the liquid-phase formation and the pyrochlore decomposition temepratures of ZBS, while densification was mainly dependent on Sb/Bi ratio: when Sb/Bi=0.5, excess Bi2O3 irrelevant to the formation of pyrochore(Zn2Sb3Bi3O14) forms eutectic liquid at ~75$0^{circ}C$ which promotes densification and grain growth; with Sb/Bi=2.0, the second phase Zn7Sb2O12 formed by excess Sb2O3 irrelevant to the formation of the pyrochlore retards densification up to ~100$0^{circ}C$. These phases caused the coarsening and uneven distribution of the second phase particles on the grain boundaries of ZnO above the pyrochlore decomposition temperature(~105$0^{circ}C$), which led to broad size dist-ribution of ZnO; the specimen with Sb/Bi=1.0 showed homogeneous microstructure compared with the others, which enabled improved varistor characteristics. Doping of Co increased the nonlinearity and the potential barrier height of ZBS, which is thought to stem from improved sintering behavior such as homogenized microstructure due to size reduction and even distribution of the second phase and suppressed volatility of Bi2O3, as well as the improvement in the potential barrier structure via increased donor and interface electron trap densities.