East Coast Bays (New Zealand electorate)

East Coast Bays electorate boundaries used since the 2014 election

East Coast Bays is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It was first formed in 1972 and has existed apart from a break lasting two parliamentary terms. The electorate is currently held by Murray McCully.^[1]

Population centres

Since the 1969 election, the number of electorates in the South Island was fixed at 25, with continued faster population growth in the North Island leading to an increase in the number of general electorates. There were 84 electorates for the 1969 election,^[2] and the 1972 electoral redistribution saw three additional general seats created for the North Island, bringing the total number of electorates to 87.^[3] Together with increased urbanisation in Christchurch and Nelson, the changes proved very disruptive to existing electorates.^[3] In the South Island, three electorates were abolished, and three electorates were newly created.^[4] In the North Island, five electorates were abolished, two electorates were recreated, and six electorates were newly created (including East Coast Bays).^[5]

The electorate is based around the north-eastern suburbs of North Shore City in north Auckland, including Torbay, Browns Bay and Mairangi Bay. The electorate crosses State Highway One at its southern end, which includes a section of Glenfield. East Coast Bays is a wealthy electorate, with incomes above the national average and boasting some of the most expensive real estate in the country. The electorate also contains many émigrés from South Africa.

History

East Coast Bays was an electorate in the New Zealand Parliament between 1972 and 1996, before being abolished to make way for the Albany electorate at the change to Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting. High population growth in North Auckland lead to the electorate's western fringe being removed in 2002, and with it the eponymous suburb of Albany, thus recreating East Coast Bays ahead of the 2002 election.

Although now a safe electorate for National, it was held for seven years by Social Credit MP Gary Knapp, from the 1980 by-election when he defeated future National party leader Don Brash. In the 1981, 1984 and 1987 general elections, Labour came third, with Knapp defeating Brash in 1981 and Murray McCully in 1984.

But in 1987 the declining fortunes of the Democratic Party (as Social Credit renamed itself), led to Knapp being defeated by Murray McCully, who has held the electorate for National since.

Members of Parliament

Key

  National     Social Credit     Democrats     United Future     Green  

¹ Resigned when appointed Ambassador to the United States

List MPs

Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person also unsuccessfully contested the East Coast Bays electorate. Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections.

²Resigned in October 2009, five months after losing Green Party co-leadership vote to Metiria Turei

Election results

2014 election

2011 election

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 47,305^[9]

2008 election

General Election 2008: East Coast Bays[10]
Notes: Green background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party Votes	%	±%
	National	Y Murray McCully		20,151	58.09	+11.06	21,681	61.40	+9.13
	Labour	Vivienne (Viv) Goldsmith		6,177	17.81	-9.31	7,642	21.64	-10.13
	Family Party	Paul Adams[note 1]		3,570	10.29	-5.58	505	1.43
	Green	Sue Bradford		2,263	6.52	+3.01	1,439	4.08	+0.59
	ACT	Tim Kronfeld		1,246	3.59	+2.12	2,000	5.66	+3.09
	NZ First	Dail Jones		730	2.10	-0.47	1,001	2.83	-1.94
	No Commercial Airport at Whenuapai	Toby Hutton		283	0.82
	United Future	Ian McInnes		215	0.62	-0.49	263	0.74	-1.65
	Libertarianz	Elah Zamora		56	0.16		25	0.07	+0.03
	Progressive						214	0.61	-0.30
	Bill and Ben						149	0.42
	Māori						141	0.40	+0.14
	Legalise Cannabis						98	0.28	+0.08
	Kiwi						90	0.25
	Alliance						14	0.04	-0.00
	Pacific						14	0.04
	Democrats						13	0.04	-0.00
	Workers Party						8	0.02
	RONZ						7	0.02	+0.00
	RAM						5	0.01
Informal votes				281			91
Total Valid votes				34,691			35,309
	National hold		Majority	13,974	40.28	+20.38

1. ↑ Paul Adams contested the 2005 election as an Independent: the "±% electoral votes" figure here compares Adams' percentage of electoral votes for the Family Party in 2008 with the 2005 percentage as an Independent.

2005 election

General Election 2005: East Coast Bays[11]
Notes: Green background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party Votes	%	±%
	National	Y Murray McCully		17,213	47.02	+7.93	19,437	52.27	+27.44
	Labour	Hamish McCracken		9,927	27.12	-7.03	11,813	31.77	-2.04
	Independent	Paul Adams		5,809	15.87
	Green	Jeanette Elley		1,287	3.52	-1.92	1,297	3.49	-8.48
	NZ First	Anne Martin		942	2.57		1,775	4.77	-5.20
	ACT	Andrew Stone		537	1.47	-4.95	956	2.39	-2.80
	United Future	Steven Dromgool		405	1.11	-8.14	890	2.39	-7.23
	Progressive	Fiona Beazley		253	0.69	-0.95	338	0.91	-0.36
	Māori	Rahuia Kapa		119	0.33		95	0.26
	Democrats	Patrick Fahey		73	0.20		14	0.04
	Destiny	John Steemson		39	0.11		370	1.00
	Legalise Cannabis						74	0.20	-0.19
	Christian Heritage						44	0.12	-0.93
	Direct Democracy						28	0.08
	Alliance						15	0.04	-0.86
	Libertarianz						14	0.04
	RONZ						7	0.02
	99 MP						6	0.02
	Family Rights						6	0.02
	One NZ						5	0.01	-0.23
Informal votes				324			100
Total Valid votes				36,604			37,184
	National hold		Majority	7,286	19.90	+14.96

2002 election

Notes

References

• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8. 
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103. 

External links

• Electorate Profile Parliamentary Library