Christchurch East
Single-member general constituency for theNew ZealandHouse of Representatives
Formation	1871, 1905, 1996
Region	Canterbury
Character	Urban and suburban
Term	3 years
Member for Christchurch East
Reuben Davidson since14 October 2023
Party	Labour
Previous MP	Poto Williams (Labour)
Party vote distribution

Christchurch East, originally calledChristchurch City East, is a current New Zealand parliamentaryelectorate. It was first created for the1871 election and was abolished for two periods, from 1875–1905 and again from 1946–1996. It was last created for the introduction of the MMP voting system for the1996 election. The current MP isReuben Davidson, a member of theNew Zealand Labour Party who was first elected in the2023 New Zealand general election.

The electorate is based on the eastern part of the City ofChristchurch. When the electorate was first formed through the Representation Act 1870, the western boundary of the electorate wasColombo Street. Unlike today, the eastern boundary was away from the coast; rather, theAvon electorate covered the coastal regions.^[1]

The electorate is bounded in the east by the Pacific Ocean and in the north by theWaimakariri River. Since the2008 election, the western and southern boundary followed Main North Road, Marshland Road, North Parade, Dudley Creek, theAvon River, Keyes Road and Pages Road, before cutting through the Bromley wastewater treatment plant to Cuthberts Road. The boundary then followed Cuthberts Road, Breezes Road and Bridge Street to the Avon River, before following the Avon through theAvon Heathcote Estuary and out to the Pacific Ocean.^[2]

The following suburbs, in alphabetical order, are at least partially located in the electorate:Aranui,Avondale,Bexley,Bottle Lake,Bridgend,Brooklands,Burwood,Chaneys,Dallington,Kainga,Marshland,New Brighton,North New Brighton,Ouruhia,Parklands,Queenspark,Shirley,South New Brighton,Southshore,Spencerville,Stewarts Gully,Styx,Waimairi Beach, andWainoni.^[2]

Population loss after the quakes necessitated expansion of the electorate in the 2013/14 redistribution, with the electorate gainingMairehau andShirley fromChristchurch Central,Bromley fromPort Hills and the remainder of Marshland fromWaimakariri.^[3] Slightly more of Bromley was added fromPort Hills at the 2020 redistribution.^[4] In the 2025 boundary review, the electorate would gain part of theLinwood-Phillipstown suburbs fromChristchurch Central. The initial proposal was to include the suburb ofRedwood into the electorate, though this was changed due to public consultation.^[5]

Christchurch City East was first created for the1871 election^[6] by the Representation Act 1870, which was passed to increase the number of general electorates to 74 from the 61 that were used at the1866 election. The Representation Act 1870 also disestablished some multi-member electorates, and the three-memberCity of Christchurch electorate was split up, with one part of it forming the new Christchurch City East electorate.^[1]

The first election was contested byJerningham Wakefield, who had previously representedChristchurch Country in the1st Parliament (1853–1855), andAndrew Duncan, who wasMayor of Christchurch in 1870. Wakefield won the election and represented the electorate until the end of the electoral term in 1875,^[7][8] when Christchurch City East was abolished, replaced by the three-member electorateCity of Christchurch.^[6]

Christchurch East was re-created for the1905 election.^[6] The election was contested byThomas Davey (who had been a representative of the City of Christchurch electorate for theLiberal Party since1902),William Whitehouse Collins (who had previously been in Parliament for the Liberal Party),Henry Toogood^[9] (a young engineer who only recently leftCanterbury College and who would become one of the founding members of theInstitution of Professional Engineers New Zealand), andFrederick Cooke^[10] (a prominent member of theSocialist Party). Davey was successful.^[11]

The1908 election was contested by Davey (the incumbent), Charles Boxshall (who represented theopposition, which at that point had not formed into a political party),James McCombs (who was anIndependent Liberal, i.e. he was not part of a formal party), and Frederick Cooke (who had also contested the previous election standing for the Socialist Party). Davey was re-elected, with McCombs coming second.^[12][13] TheSecond Ballot Act 1908 provided for second orrunoff ballots between the top two candidates where the top candidate did not get an absolute majority.^[14] As Davey had obtained 55.56% of the votes, a second ballot was not required in Christchurch East.^[12]

The1911 election was contested by Davey (the incumbent),Henry Thacker (a prominent medical doctor standing as anIndependent Liberal),Hiram Hunter (who stood for theoriginal Labour Party), and Frederick Cooke (who had also contested the two previous election standing for the Socialist Party). The first ballot was won by Thacker, with Davey beating Hunter by only four votes for second place. A second ballot was required, as Thacker had achieved 32.68% of the votes in the first ballot, far short of an absolute majority. The second ballot was won by Davey with a majority of over 17% of the votes.^[15]

Davey planned to contest the1914 election. TheLiberal Government had by now been replaced by theReform Government. At the opening meeting of his campaign, Davey refused to commit himself to amotion of no confidence against the government, which in turn resulted in the meeting refusing to give him a vote of confidence. A week later, he withdrew his nomination.^[16][17][18] This left three other candidates in the election: Henry Thacker (who had contested the previous election as an Independent Liberal, but with Davey's withdrawal contested as behalf of the Liberal Party), George Duncan Macfarlane (an auctioneer with no prior political experience who stood for theReform Party), and Hiram Hunter (who this time contested for theSocial Democratic Party, which was the successor to the original Labour Party).^[19][20] Thacker was successful and succeeded Davey.^[21]

The1919 election was contested by Thacker (the incumbent, and since May of that yearMayor of Christchurch^[22]) and Hiram Hunter (who this time contested for theLabour Party, which had been founded in 1916).^[23] Thacker served for two terms until 1922^[24] and was Mayor of Christchurch until 1923.^[25]

Thacker was defeated in the1922 election byTim Armstrong of theLabour Party.^[26] The third candidate was W R Devereux, a land agent who stood for the Reform Party.^[27][28]

Armstrong successfully contested the1925 and1928 elections against Denis Franklyn Dennehy; his challenger stood for the Liberal Party in 1925, and for its successor, theUnited Party, in 1928.^[29][30] Armstrong was challenged by George Frederick Allen of the United Party in1931, but Armstrong remained successful.^[31] Allen was active in local affairs and was the headmaster of the Sumner District High School (1908–1933).^[32][33]

Armstrong was challenged in1935 by S W Richardson, who was the official candidate for theUnited–Reform Coalition in 1935.^[34] In1938, Armstrong was challenged by K I Armour of theNational Party.^[35] Armstrong died in office on 8 November 1942 from heart disease.^[36]

Armstrong's death triggered the1943 by-election, which was held on 6 February.^[37][38] The by-election was contested by five candidates, including representatives from the Labour Party, the Labour breakaway partyDemocratic Labour Party and the National Party.^[39] The election was won by the Labour candidate,Mabel Howard, and started her long parliamentary career, which included her becoming the first female cabinet minister in 1947.^[40] Howard was confirmed later in1943 in the general election, where her majority increased substantially (by over 17 percentage points).^[41]

Christchurch East was abolished in 1946^[42] and re-created in1996 for theMMP-era.Larry Sutherland, who had previously representedAvon, won the 1996 election. Sutherland retired at the1999 election andLianne Dalziel was first elected. Dalziel had previously representedChristchurch Central (1990–1996) and spent the next three years as a list MP.

The Christchurch newspaperThe Press reported on 20 April 2013 that Lianne Dalziel will challengeBob Parker for the Christchurch mayoralty.^[43] Dalziel maintained that she was not yet committed to standing,^[44] and only formally confirmed on 19 June that she will contest the mayoralty. She confirmed that she will resign from Parliament, thus triggering aby-election in the Christchurch East electorate.^[45] Dalziel resigned before the official results were announced.^[46]

Theby-election was since held on 30 November 2013 in the electorate. This was won by Labour'sPoto Williams in a convincing victory despite the view that significant population changes since the2011 Christchurch earthquake made the allegiance to Labour less certain.^[47][48] Williams held Christchurch East in the2014 election against National's sitting list MPJo Hayes.^[49]

Since Tim Armstrong's 1922 election win, the electorate (for as long as it has existed) has been held by Labour.^[42]

Christchurch East has been represented by eight electorate MPs:

Key

  Independent  Liberal  Labour  National

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

2020 general election: Christchurch East[51]
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. AY orN denotes status of anyincumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	YPoto Williams		25,234	63.28	+9.41	24,563	60.26	+13.18
	National	Lincoln Platt		7,898	19.81	−12.20	6,760	16.58	−18.76
	Green	Nikki Berry		2,720	6.82	+0.92	3,447	8.46	+1.74
	ACT	Toni Severin		1,340	3.36	+2.96	2,511	6.16	+5.83
	New Conservative	Helen Houghton		1,050	2.63	+1.92	827	2.03	1.58
	Legalise Cannabis	Paula Lambert		843	2.11	+0.51	256	0.63	+0.32
	Advance NZ	Glen McConnell		395	0.99	—	357	0.88	—
	Outdoors	Charlotte Staples		215	0.54	—	67	0.16	+0.12
	ONE	Paula Maree Eason		183	0.46	—	135	0.33	—
	NZ First						1,015	2.49	-3.80
	Opportunities						582	1.43	-0.88
	Māori Party						141	0.35	-3.47
	Sustainable NZ						33	0.08	—
	Vision NZ						32	0.08	—
	Social Credit						33	0.05	±0.00
	Heartland						8	0.02	—
	TEA						6	0.01	—
Informal votes				768			299
Total valid votes				39,878			40,076
Turnout				40,876	83.57[52]	+3.17
	Labourhold		Majority	17,336	43.47	+21.61

2017 general election: Christchurch East[53]
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. AY orN denotes status of anyincumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	YPoto Williams		18,439	53.87	+5.78	16,414	47.08	+14.92
	National	Jo Hayes		10,959	32.01	−3.21	12,319	35.34	−4.45
	Green	Cathy Sweet		2,018	5.90	−4.23	2,343	6.72	−5.94
	NZ First	Melanie Mark-Shadbolt		1,529	4.47	—	2,194	6.29	−3.16
	Legalise Cannabis	Paula Lambert		547	1.60	+0.16	108	0.31	+0.74
	Conservative	Chris Brosnan		242	0.71	−3.31	156	0.45	−2.81
	ACT	Toni Severin		137	0.40	—	116	0.33	±0.00
	Opportunities						807	2.31	—
	Māori Party						133	3.82	+3.42
	Ban 1080						46	0.13	+0.01
	United Future						30	0.09	−0.03
	Democrats						19	0.05	−0.01
	Outdoors						15	0.04	—
	People's Party						14	0.04	—
	Internet						12	0.03	−0.85
	Mana Party						3	0.01	−0.04
Informal votes				360			132
Total valid votes				34,231			34,861
Turnout				35,202	80.40[54]	+3.52
	Labourhold		Majority	7,480	21.86	+8.99

2014 general election: Christchurch East[55]
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. AY orN denotes status of anyincumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	YPoto Williams		15,221	48.09	-13.21	10,450	32.16	+0.51
	National	Jo Hayes		11,148	35.22	+9.16	12,928	39.79	-6.31
	Green	Mojo Mathers		3,206	10.13	+3.18	4,113	12.66	+0.98
	Conservative	Leighton Baker		1,271	4.02	+0.42	1,058	3.26	+1.11
	Legalise Cannabis	Robert Wilkinson		457	1.44	+1.01	186	0.57	+0.07
	Māori Party	Tania Mataki		190	0.60	+0.60	129	0.40	+0.11
	United Future	Sam Park		159	0.50	+0.50	74	0.23	-0.33
	NZ First						3,069	9.45	+3.19
	Internet Mana						286	0.88	+0.66
	ACT						107	0.33	-0.02
	Ban 1080						38	0.12	+0.12
	Democrats						20	0.06	-0.02
	Civilian						19	0.06	+0.06
	Independent Coalition						11	0.03	+0.03
	Focus						1	0.00	+0.00
Informal votes				409			141
Total valid votes				31,652			32,489
	Labourhold		Majority	4,073	12.87	-6.17

The following table shows the final results of the by-election:^[56]

2011 general election: Christchurch East[57]
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. AY orN denotes status of anyincumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	YLianne Dalziel		15,559	55.54	+2.61	9,100	31.65	-13.62
	National	Aaron Gilmore		10,225	36.50	+0.55	13,252	46.10	+10.40
	Green	Mojo Mathers		1,347	4.81	-0.62	3,359	11.68	+4.45
	Conservative	Leighton Baker		522	1.86	+1.86	617	2.15	+2.15
	Legalise Cannabis	Michael Britnell		254	0.91	-0.32	145	0.50	+0.16
	United Future	Johnny Miller		108	0.39	-0.22	160	0.56	-0.39
	NZ First						1,801	6.26	+2.34
	ACT						101	0.35	-1.58
	Māori Party						84	0.29	-0.22
	Mana						63	0.22	+0.22
	Alliance						28	0.10	-0.08
	Democrats						22	0.08	+0.01
	Libertarianz						17	0.06	+0.02
Informal votes				509			228
Total valid votes				28,015			28,977
	Labourhold		Majority	5,334	19.04	+2.06

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 39,708^[58]

2008 general election: Christchurch East[59]
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. AY orN denotes status of anyincumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	YLianne Dalziel		17,969	52.92		15,585	45.27
	National	Aaron Gilmore		12,204	35.94		12,289	35.70
	Green	Mojo Mathers		1,843	5.43		2,489	7.23
	Progressive	Elspeth Sandys		575	1.69		696	2.02
	Legalise Cannabis	Paula Lambert		417	1.23		117	0.34
	Kiwi	Tony Le Cren		378	1.11		269	0.78
	United Future	Maretta Solomon		204	0.60		326	0.95
	Alliance	Paul Piesse		119	0.35		62	0.18
	Independent	Sevaschan Sam Park		114	0.34
	Workers Party	Paul Hopkinson		90	0.27		26	0.08
	Democrats	Nick McIlraith		40	0.12		24	0.07
	NZ First						1,352	3.93
	ACT						664	1.93
	Bill and Ben						210	0.61
	Māori Party						176	0.51
	Family Party						68	0.20
	Pacific						54	0.16
	Libertarianz						14	0.04
	RAM						5	0.01
	RONZ						1	0.00
Informal votes				267			202
Total valid votes				33,953			34,427
	Labourhold		Majority	5,765	16.98

2005 general election: Christchurch East[60]
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. AY orN denotes status of anyincumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	YLianne Dalziel		20,969	60.31		18,893	53.44
	National	David Round		8,996	25.88		9,851	27.86
	Green	Mary McCammon		1,698	4.88		1,948	5.51
	United Future	Dianne Wilson		1,205	3.47		1,176	3.33
	Progressive	Karen Silcock		926	2.66		926	2.62
	ACT	John Peters		401	1.15		277	0.78
	Legalise Cannabis	Kevin O'Connell		299	0.86		101	0.29
	Alliance	Lynda Boyd		167	0.48		98	0.28
	Direct Democracy	Kyle Chapman		63	0.18		13	0.04
	Anti-Capitalist Alliance	Paul Hopkinson		43	0.12
	NZ First						1,694	4.77
	Destiny						170	0.48
	Māori Party						97	0.27
	Christian Heritage						54	0.15
	Democrats						18	0.05
	Libertarianz						13	0.04
	Family Rights						7	0.02
	99 MP						6	0.02
	RONZ						6	0.02
	One NZ						5	0.01
Informal votes				424			186
Total valid votes				34,787			35,353
	Labourhold		Majority	11,973	34.44

2002 general election: Christchurch East[61]
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. AY orN denotes status of anyincumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	YLianne Dalziel		19,784	63.92	+7.12	16,142	51.29	+4.46
	National	Stephen Johnston		4,920	15.90		4,368	13.88	-10.39
	Green	Mary McCammon		1,557	5.03		2,068	6.57	+1.70
	United Future	Paul Duxbury		1,532	4.95		2,394	7.61
	ACT	John Peters		841	2.72		1,212	3.85	+0.35
	Progressive	David Culverhouse		834	2.69		1,171	3.72
	Christian Heritage	Judith Phillips		577	1.86	-0.52	441	1.40	-1.00
	Legalise Cannabis	Michael Britnell		512	1.65	-0.50	222	0.71	-0.69
	Alliance	Colin Pounder		315	1.02		466	1.48	-9.90
	ACAP	Philip Ferguson		79	0.26
	NZ First						2,532	8.05	+5.81
	ORNZ						430	1.37
	One NZ						15	0.05
	Mana Māori						8	0.03	+0.00
	NMP						3	0.01	+0.01
Informal votes				389			102
Total valid votes				30,951			31,472
	Labourhold		Majority	14,864	48.02	+13.11

• Scholefield, Guy (1950) [First published in 1913].New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.).Wellington: Govt. Printer.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913].New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.).Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer.OCLC 154283103.

• Electorate ProfileArchived 29 September 2007 at theWayback MachineParliamentary Library

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