Submitters pleased as East Coast retains electorate boundaries, name changes

Background: Manutūkē, along with Te Karaka, Pātūtahi and Mōtū will not move to the Napier electorate, but will remain within the newly named East Cape electorate. Photo / Liam Clayton Inset: The northern boundary of the renamed East Cape electorate. Graphic / Representation Commission

Submitters calling for the East Coast’s existing electorate boundary with Napier to remain are pleased with a successful outcome as the Representation Commission finalises its decisions.

The Representation Commission, in a release of the final electorate boundaries for the 2026 general election, said it responded to objections and will not move western rural-based voters to Napier and out of the East Coast electorate, which will now be named East Cape.

Under the original commission proposals, about 1300 voters in Te Karaka, Manutūkē, Pātūtahi and Mōtū would have moved to the Napier electorate.

Public submissions opposed the “further encroachment” of Napier into the East Coast electorate.

Napier, instead, will expand at its southern edge only, taking in rural areas west of Napier city and north of the Ngaruroro River from Tukituki.

The electorate’s name change to East Cape was also a response to submissions and is “a better reflection of the area and communities it serves“, the commission said in its report on the final electorate names and boundaries for 2026.

The National Party and the Labour Party supported the retention of the townships within the newly named electorate.

“The small towns of Te Karaka, Pātūtahi, Whatatutu and Mōtūwill all stay in the electorate, which is a big turnaround,” East Coast National MP Dana Kirkpatrick said in a social media statement.

The National Party made an official submission to the commission, arguing that the townships should remain within the East Coast electorate on the grounds of community interest.

National and some individual submitters suggested the electorate boundary should match the Gisborne District Council boundary, but this was not adopted by the commission.

The Representation Commission says it has responded to objections and will not move western rural-based voters to Napier and out of the East Coast electorate, which will now be named East Cape. Photo / Representation Commission

Gisborne-based list MP Jo Luxton said retaining the existing boundaries made sense.

“Te Karaka, Manutūkē, Pātūtahi, and Mōtū have no previous affiliation with the Napier electorate, and maintaining these connections reflects our local ties across the East Cape.”

Te Karaka resident Jaime Simpson told the Gisborne Herald in March, when the original proposals were made public, the region struggled for local representation and that any move into the Napier electorate was “another nail in the coffin for this area”.

He told the Gisborne Herald this week he was glad the commission had listened to submissions.

The retention of the existing boundaries was “logical”, which was not always the case when dealing with statistics, he said.

“It’s a good outcome.”

Simpson said he was not concerned about the name change.

The Ikaroa-Rāwhiti electorate gained an area in Lower Hutt and its eastern bays area from Te Tai Tonga.

Nineteen electorates are unchanged and the boundaries of 49 general and three Māori electorates have been adjusted.

The main areas of change are in Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Christchurch and the lower North Island, where electorate boundaries have been reconfigured to include one fewer electorate.

The changes included having one fewer electorate in the lower North Island to account for 7% population growth in the South Island which, by law, can only have 16 seats.

Commission chairman Judge Kevin Kelly said most of the boundary changes were signalled in March.

There were 717 written submissions on the proposed boundaries. Four electorates have had name changes after the submissions and hearings process.

The proposed electorate name Rānui becomes Henderson, Wellington Central becomes Wellington North, Rongotai will become Wellington Bays, and East Coast becomes East Cape.

An electorate named East Coast existed between 1871 and the 1890 elections and was replaced by Bay of Plenty in 1893.

An electorate known as Gisborne existed from 1908 to the 1993 election before being replaced by Mahia in 1996, the first MMP election.

That electorate was renamed East Coast in 1999.