East Coast

East Coast is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The electorate first existed from 1871 to 1893. From 1996 to 2002, the electorate was called Mahia. The current MP for East Coast is Anne Tolley of the National Party, who has held office since 2005. The electorate's main centres are Gisborne (32,529) and Tolaga Bay in the Gisborne Region; and Opotiki and Whakatane (18,800) in the eastern part of the Bay of Plenty Region. Wairoa, the northernmost town in the Hawke's Bay region, was excluded by the 2007 boundary changes. The East Coast electorate was first established for the 5th Parliament in 1871. William Kelly was the first elected representative; he...