East Coast Bays (New Zealand electorate)

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 has been held by Erica Stanford of the National Party since the 2017 general election.

East Coast Bays
Single-member general constituency for the New Zealand House of Representatives
Formation	1972, 2002
Region	Auckland
Character	Suburban
Term	3 years
Member for East Coast Bays
Erica Stanford[1] since 23 September 2017
Party	National
Previous MP	Murray McCully (National)
Party vote distribution

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 immigrants from South Africa. Located on the North Shore of the Auckland isthmus, it is one of the safest National seats in the country.

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 held the electorate for National until 2017.

In December 2016, McCully announced that he would not stand for parliament in the 2017 general election,^[6] and the seat of East Coast Bays was won by Erica Stanford, retaining it for the National Party.

Members of Parliament

Key

  National   Social Credit   Democrats   United Future   Green

Election	Winner
1972 election		Frank Gill1
1975 election
1978 election
1980 by-election		Gary Knapp
1981 election
1984 election
1987 election		Murray McCully
1990 election
1993 election
electorate abolished, see Albany
2002 election		Murray McCully
2005 election
2008 election
2011 election
2014 election
2017 election		Erica Stanford
2020 election
2023 election

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.

Election	Winner
2002 election		Paul Adams
2008 election		Sue Bradford2

²Bradford resigned from Parliament on 30 October 2009.

Election results

2023 election

2023 general election: East Coast Bays[7]
Notes:		Blue 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, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y Erica Stanford		27,687	71.52	+17.81	22,508	57.59	+19.40
	Labour	Naisi Chen		7,334	18.94	-11.77	5,716	14.62	-25.43
	ACT	Michael McCook		1,584	4.09	+0.42	3,774	9.65	+0.88
	NewZeal	Paul Adams		890	2.29		409	1.04	+0.94
	NZ Loyal	Bill Dyet		710	1.83		386	0.98
	Green						3,462	8.85	+2.72
	NZ First						1,532	3.92	+2.21
	Opportunities						646	1.65	+0.51
	Te Pāti Māori						137	0.35	+0.18
	Legalise Cannabis						109	0.27	+0.05
	Animal Justice						62	0.15
	New Conservative						58	0.14	-1.64
	Freedoms NZ						51	0.13
	DemocracyNZ						34	0.08
	Women's Rights						32	0.08
	New Nation						24	0.06
	Leighton Baker Party						7	0.01
Informal votes				505			136
Total valid votes				38,710			39,079
	National hold		Majority	20,353	52.57	+29.57

2020 election

2020 general election: East Coast Bays[8]
Notes:		Blue 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, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y Erica Stanford		20,466	53.71	−11.82	14,658	38.19	−24.59
	Labour	Monina Hernandez		11,702	30.71	+12.14	15,372	40.05	+16.85
	Green	Dan Jones		2,370	6.22	−0.43	2,353	6.13	+1.39
	ACT	Michael McCook		1,397	3.67	+2.55	3,365	8.77	+7.77
	New Conservative	Matthew Webster		927	2.43	—	683	1.78	+1.51
	TEA	Susanna Kruger		275	0.72	—	161	0.42	—
	Outdoors	Marius Koekemoer		172	0.45	—	32	0.08	+0.04
	NZ First						657	1.71	−3.67
	Opportunities						436	1.14	−0.78
	Advance NZ						237	0.62	—
	Legalise Cannabis						83	0.22	+0.05
	Māori Party						65	0.17	+0.01
	ONE						37	0.10	—
	Sustainable NZ						29	0.08	—
	Social Credit						13	0.03	+0.01
	Vision New Zealand						11	0.03	—
	Heartland						3	0.01	—
Informal votes				793			188
Total valid votes				38,102			38,383
Turnout				38,539[9]	79.12	+2.45
	National hold		Majority	8,764	23.00	−23.96

2017 election

2017 general election: East Coast Bays[10]
Notes:		Blue 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, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Erica Stanford		22,731	65.53	+3.61	22,006	62.78	−0.60
	Labour	Naisi Chen		6,441	18.57	+3.30	8,130	23.20	+11.05
	Green	Nicholas Mayne		2,306	6.65	−3.30	1,660	4.74	−3.49
	Opportunities	Teresa Moore		1,289	3.72	—	673	1.92	—
	NZ First	Ilja Ruppeldt		1,254	3.62	—	1,886	5.38	−0.58
	ACT	Stephen Berry		389	1.12	—	347	1.00	−4.96
	Conservative						95	0.27	−6.43
	Legalise Cannabis						58	0.17	−0.12
	Māori Party						55	0.16	+0.12
	United Future						34	0.10	−0.11
	People's Party						18	0.05	—
	Outdoors						14	0.04	—
	Democrats						6	0.02	−0.03
	Mana Party						5	0.01	—
	Ban 1080						5	0.01	−0.13
	Internet						4	0.01	—
Informal votes				277			154
Total valid votes				34,687			35,050
	National hold		Majority	16,290	46.96	+0.30

2014 election

2014 general election: East Coast Bays[11][12]
Notes:		Blue 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, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y Murray McCully		19,951	61.92	-3.06	20,895	63.38	+0.52
	Conservative	Colin Craig		4,923	15.27	+10.3	2,210	6.7	+2.96
	Labour	Greg Milner-White		3,915	12.15	-7.73	4,005	12.15	-5.05
	Green	Teresa Moore		3,206	9.95	+1.23	2,712	8.23	+0.17
	Ban 1080	Tricia Cheel		229	0.71	+0.71	47	0.14	+0.14
	NZ First						1,964	5.96	+1.02
	ACT						580	1.76	+0.18
	Internet Mana						222	0.67	+0.67
	Māori Party						125	0.38	-0.01
	Legalise Cannabis						95	0.29	-0.18
	United Future						69	0.21	-0.22
	Civilian						64	0.06	+0.06
	Democrats						17	0.05	+0.02
	Independent Coalition						4	0.01	+0.01
	Focus						3	0.01	+0.01
Informal votes				327			73
Total valid votes				32,557			33,041
	National hold		Majority	15,034	46.65	+1.55

2011 election

2011 general election: East Coast Bays[13]
Notes:		Blue 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, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y Murray McCully		21,094	64.98	+6.90	21,079	62.86	+1.45
	Labour	Viv Goldsmith		6,453	19.88	+2.07	5,769	17.20	-4.44
	Green	Brett Stansfield		2,832	8.72	+2.20	2,704	8.72	+2.20
	Conservative	Simonne Dyer		1,614	4.97	+4.97	1,254	3.74	+3.74
	ACT	Toby Hutton		467	1.44	-2.15	530	1.58	-4.08
	NZ First						1,657	4.94	+2.11
	Legalise Cannabis						156	0.47	+0.19
	United Future						145	0.43	-0.31
	Māori Party						130	0.39	-0.01
	Mana						64	0.19	+0.19
	Libertarianz						24	0.07	+0.001
	Alliance						14	0.04	+0.002
	Democrats						9	0.03	-0.01
Informal votes				902			160
Total valid votes				32,460			33,535
	National hold		Majority	14,641	45.10	+4.82

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 47,305^[14]

2008 election

2008 general election: East Coast Bays[15]
Notes:		Blue 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, or other incumbent. 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	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 Party						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

2005 general election: East Coast Bays[16]
Notes:		Blue 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, or other incumbent. 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 Party	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

2002 general election: East Coast Bays[17]
Notes:		Blue 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, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y Murray McCully		12,134	39.09		7,876	24.83
	Labour	Hamish McCracken		10,600	34.15		10,722	33.81
	United Future	Paul Adams		2,872	9.25		3,052	9.62
	ACT	Julie Pepper		1,993	6.42		1,646	5.19
	Green	Jeanette Elley		1,688	5.44		3,796	11.97
	One NZ	Alan McCulloch		528	1.70		75	0.24
	Progressive	Jill Henry		508	1.64		403	1.27
	Christian Heritage	Ian Cummings		399	1.29		334	1.05
	Alliance	Fiona McLaren		316	1.02		287	0.90
	NZ First						3,163	9.97
	ORNZ						227	0.72
	Legalise Cannabis						123	0.39
	NMP						6	0.02
	Mana Māori						4	0.01
Informal votes				392			75
Total valid votes				31,038			31,714
	National win new seat		Majority	1,534	4.94

1993 election

1993 general election: East Coast Bays^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Murray McCully	10,209	46.74	−0.83
	Alliance	Heather-Ann McConachy	5,693	26.06
	Labour	Gordon Duncan	3,253	14.89
	NZ First	Anne Martin	2,232	10.21
	Christian Heritage	Dennis Knox	347	1.58
	Natural Law	Miranda Adams	107	0.48
Majority			4,516	20.67	−2.32
Turnout			21,841	86.74	−1.31
Registered electors			25,179

1990 election

1990 general election: East Coast Bays^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Murray McCully	10,791	47.57	+7.12
	Democrats	Gary Knapp	5,575	24.58	−14.45
	Labour	Vivienne Halligan	3,433	15.13
	Green	Dianne Gatward	2,406	10.60
	NewLabour	John Alfred Watson	430	1.89
	Social Credit	Sonia Lee Stewart	45	0.19
Majority			5,216	22.99	+21.57
Turnout			22,680	88.05	+1.89
Registered electors			25,758

1987 election

1987 general election: East Coast Bays^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Murray McCully	8,833	40.45	+4.62
	Democrats	Gary Knapp	8,522	39.03	−5.71
	Labour	Wayne Sellwood	4,411	20.20
	Independent	J C Braithwaite	68	0.31
Majority			311	1.42
Turnout			21,834	89.94	−3.46
Registered electors			24,276

1984 election

1984 general election: East Coast Bays^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Gary Knapp	10,146	44.74	−0.16
	National	Murray McCully	8,126	35.83
	Labour	Michael Smythe	2,081	9.17
	NZ Party	David Phillips	2,035	8.97
	Independent	Mark Smits	17	0.07
Majority			2,020	8.90	+5.96
Turnout			22,675	93.40	+1.26
Registered electors			24,276

1981 election

1981 general election: East Coast Bays^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Gary Knapp	11,568	44.90	+1.59
	National	Don Brash	10,810	41.96	+3.76
	Labour	Neville Creighton	3,335	12.94
	Independent	Eric Smith	49	0.19
Majority			758	2.94	−2.17
Turnout			25,762	92.14	+28.50
Registered electors			27,957

1980 by-election

1980 East Coast Bays by-election^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Gary Knapp	8,061	43.31	+23.33
	National	Don Brash	7,110	38.20
	Labour	Wyn Hoadley	3,296	17.71
	Values	Janet Moore	144	0.77
Majority			951	5.11
Turnout			18,611	63.64	−12.95
Registered electors			29,243
	Social Credit gain from National		Swing

1978 election

1978 general election: East Coast Bays^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Frank Gill	7,675	34.48	−20.96
	Labour	Colleen Hicks	6,109	27.45
	Social Credit	Gary Knapp	4,448	19.98
	Independent National	David Phillips	3,684	16.55
	Values	Eric Smith	339	1.52
Majority			1,566	7.03	−17.31
Turnout			22,255	76.59	−8.01
Registered electors			29,055

1975 election

1975 general election: East Coast Bays^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Frank Gill	12,739	55.44	+6.80
	Labour	Rex Stanton	7,145	31.09
	Values	John Bartram	1,839	8.00
	Social Credit	Noel Edward Lord	1,253	5.45
Majority			5,594	24.34	+18.72
Turnout			22,976	84.60	−2.59
Registered electors			27,157

1972 election

1972 general election: East Coast Bays^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Frank Gill	8,460	48.64
	Labour	Brian Pauling	7,481	43.01
	Social Credit	Betty Ross	1,357	7.80
	New Democratic	Kay Edgecumbe	93	0.53
Majority			979	5.62
Turnout			17,391	87.19
Registered electors			19,946