Christchurch East

For the Barbados constituency, see Christ Church East (BB Parliament constituency).

Christchurch East, originally called Christchurch City East, is a current New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It was first created for the 1871 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 the 1996 election. The current MP is Reuben Davidson, a member of the New Zealand Labour Party who was first elected in the 2023 New Zealand general election.

Christchurch East
Single-member constituency for the New Zealand House of Representatives
Location of Christchurch East within Canterbury
Region	Canterbury
Area	91.57 km2 (35.36 sq mi)
Current constituency
Created	1871
Current MP	Reuben Davidson
Party	Labour

Population centres

Christchurch East electorate boundaries for the 2008 and 2011 elections

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

The electorate is bounded in the east by the Pacific Ocean and in the north by the Waimakariri River. Since the 2008 election, the western and southern boundary followed Main North Road, Marshland Road, North Parade, Dudley Creek, the Avon 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 the Avon 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, and Wainoni.^[2]

Population loss after the quakes necessitated expansion of the electorate in the 2013/14 redistribution, with the electorate gaining Mairehau and Shirley from Christchurch Central, Bromley from Port Hills and the remainder of Marshland from Waimakariri.^[3] Slightly more of Bromley was added from Port Hills at the 2020 redistribution.^[4]

History

Christchurch City East was first created for the 1871 election^[5] by the Representation Act 1870, which was passed to increase the number of general electorates to 74 from the 61 that were used at the 1866 election. The Representation Act 1870 also disestablished some multi-member electorates, and the three-member City of Christchurch electorate was split up, with one part of it forming the new Christchurch City East electorate.^[1]

The first election was contested by Jerningham Wakefield, who had previously represented Christchurch Country in the 1st Parliament (1853–1855), and Andrew Duncan, who was Mayor of Christchurch in 1870. Wakefield won the election and represented the electorate until the end of the electoral term in 1875,^[6][7] when Christchurch City East was abolished, replaced by the three-member electorate City of Christchurch.^[5]

Christchurch East was re-created for the 1905 election.^[5] The election was contested by Thomas Davey (who had been a representative of the City of Christchurch electorate for the Liberal Party since 1902), William Whitehouse Collins (who had previously been in Parliament for the Liberal Party), Henry Toogood^[8] (a young engineer who only recently left Canterbury College and who would become one of the founding members of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand), and Frederick Cooke^[9] (a prominent member of the Socialist Party). Davey was successful.^[10]

The 1908 election was contested by Davey (the incumbent), Charles Boxshall (who represented the opposition, which at that point had not formed into a political party), James McCombs (who was an Independent 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.^[11][12] The Second Ballot Act 1908 provided for second or runoff ballots between the top two candidates where the top candidate did not get an absolute majority.^[13] As Davey had obtained 55.56% of the votes, a second ballot was not required in Christchurch East.^[11]

The 1911 election was contested by Davey (the incumbent), Henry Thacker (a prominent medical doctor standing as an Independent Liberal), Hiram Hunter (who stood for the original 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.^[14]

Davey planned to contest the 1914 election. The Liberal Government had by now been replaced by the Reform Government. At the opening meeting of his campaign, Davey refused to commit himself to a motion 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.^[15][16][17] 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 the Reform Party), and Hiram Hunter (who this time contested for the Social Democratic Party, which was the successor to the original Labour Party).^[18][19] Thacker was successful and succeeded Davey.^[20]

The 1919 election was contested by Thacker (the incumbent, and since May of that year Mayor of Christchurch^[21]) and Hiram Hunter (who this time contested for the Labour Party, which had been founded in 1916).^[22] Thacker served for two terms until 1922^[23] and was Mayor of Christchurch until 1923.^[24]

Thacker was defeated in the 1922 election by Tim Armstrong of the Labour Party.^[25] The third candidate was W R Devereux, a land agent who stood for the Reform Party.^[26][27]

Armstrong successfully contested the 1925 and 1928 elections against Denis Franklyn Dennehy; his challenger stood for the Liberal Party in 1925, and for its successor, the United Party, in 1928.^[28][29] Armstrong was challenged by George Frederick Allen of the United Party in 1931, but Armstrong remained successful.^[30] Allen was active in local affairs and was the headmaster of the Sumner District High School (1908–1933).^[31][32]

Armstrong was challenged in 1935 by S W Richardson, who was the official candidate for the United–Reform Coalition in 1935.^[33] In 1938, Armstrong was challenged by K I Armour of the National Party.^[34] Armstrong died in office on 8 November 1942 from heart disease.^[35]

Armstrong's death triggered the 1943 by-election, which was held on 6 February.^[36][37] The by-election was contested by five candidates, including representatives from the Labour Party, the Labour breakaway party Democratic Labour Party and the National Party.^[38] 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.^[39] Howard was confirmed later in 1943 in the general election, where her majority increased substantially (by over 17 percentage points).^[40]

Christchurch East was abolished in 1946^[41] and re-created in 1996 for the MMP-era. Larry Sutherland, who had previously represented Avon, won the 1996 election. Sutherland retired at the 1999 election and Lianne Dalziel was first elected. Dalziel had previously represented Christchurch Central (1990–1996) and spent the next three years as a list MP.

The Christchurch newspaper The Press reported on 20 April 2013 that Lianne Dalziel will challenge Bob Parker for the Christchurch mayoralty.^[42] Dalziel maintained that she was not yet committed to standing,^[43] and only formally confirmed on 19 June that she will contest the mayoralty. She confirmed that she will resign from Parliament, thus triggering a by-election in the Christchurch East electorate.^[44] Dalziel resigned before the official results were announced.^[45]

The by-election was since held on 30 November 2013 in the electorate. This was won by Labour's Poto Williams in a convincing victory despite the view that significant population changes since the 2011 Christchurch earthquake made the allegiance to Labour less certain.^[46][47] Williams held Christchurch East in the 2014 election against National's sitting list MP Jo Hayes.^[48]

Since Tim Armstrong's 1922 election win, the electorate (for as long as it has existed) has been held by Labour.^[41]

Members of Parliament

Christchurch East has been represented by eight electorate MPs:

Key

  Independent   Liberal   Labour   National

Election	Winner
1871 election		Jerningham Wakefield
(Electorate abolished 1875–1905, see City of Christchurch)
1905 election		Thomas Davey
1908 election
1911 election
1914 election		Henry Thacker
1919 election
1922 election		Tim Armstrong
1925 election
1928 election
1931 election
1935 election
1938 election
1943 by-election		Mabel Howard
1943 election
(Electorate abolished 1946–1996)
1996 election		Larry Sutherland
1999 election		Lianne Dalziel
2002 election
2005 election
2008 election
2011 election
2013 by-election		Poto Williams
2014 election
2017 election
2020 election
2023 election		Reuben Davidson

List MPs

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.

Election	Winner
2008 election		Aaron Gilmore
2011 election		Mojo Mathers
2013		Aaron Gilmore[a]
2014 election		Mojo Mathers
		Jo Hayes
2017 election
2020 election		Toni Severin

Election results

2023 election

2023 general election: Christchurch East[49]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Reuben Davidson		15,163	39.07		13,418	34.18	-26.08
	National	Matt Stock		12,766	32.89		11,208	28.55	+11.97
	Green	Sahra Ahmed		4,594	11.83		5,675	14.45	+5.99
	NZ First	Shane Wiremu		2,030	5.23		2,676	6.81	+4.32
	ACT	Toni Severin		1,679	4.32	+0.96	2,786	7.09	+0.93
	Legalise Cannabis	Paula Lambert		901	2.32	+0.21	223	0.56	-0.07
	New Conservative	Helen Houghton		615	1.58	-1.05	175	0.44	-1.59
	Animal Justice	Danette Wereta		353	0.90		223	0.56
	Independent	Sam Park		234	0.60
	Opportunities						1,339	3.41	+1.98
	Te Pāti Māori						415	1.05	+0.70
	NZ Loyal						402	1.02
	NewZeal						205	0.52	+0.19
	Leighton Baker Party						118	0.30
	Freedoms NZ						114	0.29
	DemocracyNZ						106	0.27
	Women's Rights						46	0.11
	New Nation						24	0.06
Informal votes				470			203
Total valid votes				38,805			39,247
	Labour hold		Majority	2,397	6.17

2020 election

2020 general election: Christchurch East[50]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Poto 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[51]	+3.17
	Labour hold		Majority	17,336	43.47	+21.61

2017 election

2017 general election: Christchurch East[52]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Poto 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[53]	+3.52
	Labour hold		Majority	7,480	21.86	+8.99

2014 election

2014 general election: Christchurch East[54]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Poto 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
	Labour hold		Majority	4,073	12.87	-6.17

2013 by-election

The following table shows the final results of the by-election:^[55]

2013 Christchurch East by-election
Notes: Blue background denotes the winner of the by-election. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list prior to the by-election. Yellow background denotes the winner of the by-election, who was a list MP prior to the by-election. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Poto Williams	8,414	61.39	+5.86
	National	Matt Doocey	3,577	26.10	−10.40
	Green	David Moorhouse	954	6.96	+2.15
	Conservative	Leighton Baker	494	3.60	+1.74
	Independent	Sam Park	78	0.57	+0.57
	Legalise Cannabis	Paula Lambert	59	0.43	−0.48
	ACT	Gareth Veale	58	0.42	+0.42
	Independent	Adam Holland	31	0.23	+0.23
	Independent	Ian Gaskin	20	0.15	+0.15
	Democrats	Jenner Lichtwark	20	0.15	+0.15
Total Valid votes			13,705
Informal votes			21	0.15	-1.63
Turnout			13,726
	Labour hold	Majority	4,837	35.29	+16.25

2011 election

2011 general election: Christchurch East[56]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Lianne 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
	Labour hold		Majority	5,334	19.04	+2.06

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 39,708^[57]

2008 election

2008 general election: Christchurch East[58]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Lianne 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
	Labour hold		Majority	5,765	16.98

2005 election

2005 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. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	Y Lianne 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
	Labour hold		Majority	11,973	34.44

2002 election

2002 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. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	Y Lianne 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
	Labour hold		Majority	14,864	48.02	+13.11

1999 election

1999 general election: Christchurch East[61][62]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Lianne Dalziel		18,157	56.80		15,084	46.83	+10.38
	National	John Knox		6,995	21.88		7,816	24.26	-2.21
	Alliance	Paul Piesse		2,127	6.65		3,665	11.38	-6.11
	Green	Jacqui Wood		1,296	4.05		1,568	4.87
	Christian Heritage	Judith Phillips		761	2.38		774	2.40
	Legalise Cannabis	Michael Britnell		688	2.15		449	1.39	-0.54
	Christian Democrats	Chantelle Stiles		669	2.09		456	1.42
	ACT	Alan Beecham		667	2.09		1,127	3.50	0.47
	NZ First	Margaret Silverlock		528	1.65		719	2.23	-6.52
	Natural Law	Warwick Jones		80	0.25		58	0.18	0.06
	United NZ						143	0.44	+0.04
	Libertarianz						131	0.41	+0.40
	South Island						73	0.23
	Animals First						71	0.22	+0.04
	McGillicuddy Serious						36	0.11	-0.05
	One NZ						18	0.06
	Mana Māori						11	0.03	+0.02
	Mauri Pacific						5	0.02
	The People's Choice						4	0.01
	Republican						2	0.01
	Freedom Movement						1	0.00
	NMP						1	0.00
Informal votes				513			269
Total valid votes				31,968			32,212
	Labour hold		Majority	11,162	34.92

1996 election

1996 general election: Christchurch East[63][64][65]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Larry Sutherland		11,174	35.17		11,675	36.44
	National	Sue McKenzie		8,216	25.86		8,480	26.47
	Alliance	Marie Venning		7,305	22.99		5,601	17.48
	NZ First	Lem Pearse		2,970	9.35		2,805	8.76
	Legalise Cannabis	Tim Shadbolt		1,368	4.31		618	1.93
	ACT	Jeffrey Buchanan		569	1.79		971	3.03
	McGillicuddy Serious	Phil Clayton		105	0.33		51	0.16
	Natural Law	Sean O'Connor		61	0.19		38	0.12
	Christian Coalition						1,494	4.66
	United NZ						128	0.40
	Animals First						59	0.18
	Progressive Green						48	0.15
	Green Society						17	0.05
	Advance New Zealand						14	0.04
	Superannuitants & Youth						13	0.04
	Ethnic Minority Party						8	0.02
	Asia Pacific United						4	0.01
	Mana Māori						4	0.01
	Conservatives						3	0.01
	Libertarianz						3	0.01
	Te Tawharau						1	0.00
Informal votes				360			93
Total valid votes				31,768			32,035
	Labour win new seat		Majority	2,958	9.31

1943 election

1943 general election: Christchurch East^[40][66]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mabel Howard	8,911	64.39	+17.11
	National	Reginald Gilbert Brown	3,374	24.38	−0.21
	Democratic Labour	Herman Theodore Schou[67]	1,277	9.23	−17.50
	Real Democracy	Fred Whiley	278	2.01
Informal votes			213	1.52
Majority			5,537	40.01	−11.48
Turnout			14,053	87.77	+22.76
Registered electors			14,835

1943 by-election

1943 Christchurch East by-election^[68][69]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mabel Howard	4,559	47.27	−28.47
	Democratic Labour	Horace Herring	2,578	26.73
	National	Melville Lyons	2,371	24.59	+0.33
	Independent	Lincoln Efford	114	1.18
	Independent	Owen McKee	22	0.23
Majority			1,981	20.54	−30.95
Registered electors			14,835
Turnout			9,644	65.01	−26.42

1938 election

1938 general election: Christchurch East^[34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tim Armstrong	10,561	75.74	+2.25
	National	Ken Armour	3,382	24.26	+1.49
Informal votes			73	0.52	−0.61
Majority			7,179	51.49	+0.76
Turnout			14,016	91.43
Registered electors			15,330

1935 election

1935 general election: Christchurch East^[33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tim Armstrong	8,299	73.49	+9.16
	United/Reform	Sydney Richardson[70][71]	2,571	22.77	−12.90
	Independent	Berthold Ahlfeld	422	3.74
Informal votes			129	1.13
Majority			5,728	50.73	+22.07
Turnout			9,420	80.75	−7.47
Registered electors			11,666

1931 election

1931 general election: Christchurch East^[30]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tim Armstrong	7,196	64.33	+3.93
	United	George Frederick Allen	3,990	35.67	−3.93
Informal votes			488	4.30
Majority			3,206	28.66	+7.87
Turnout			9,420	80.75	−7.47
Registered electors			11,666

1928 election

1928 general election: Christchurch East^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tim Armstrong	6,564	60.40	−2.64
	United	Denis Franklyn Dennehy[72]	4,304	39.60	+2.64
Informal votes			488	4.30
Majority			2,260	20.79	−5.28
Turnout			11,356	84.93
Registered electors			13,371

1925 election

1925 general election: Christchurch East^[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tim Armstrong	6,902	63.04	+15.83
	Liberal	Denis Franklyn Dennehy[72]	4,047	36.96	+1.57
Informal votes			216	2.29	+1.39
Majority			2,855	26.08	+5.00
Turnout			9,420	80.75	−7.47
Registered electors			11,666

1922 election

1922 general election: Christchurch East^[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tim Armstrong	4,535	47.21	+7.75
	Liberal	Henry Thacker	3,400	35.39	−25.14
	Reform	William Russell Devereux[73]	1,671	17.40
Informal votes			216	2.29	+1.39
Majority			1,135	11.82	−9.26
Turnout			9,420	80.75	−7.47
Registered electors			11,666

1919 election

1919 general election: Christchurch East^[74]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Henry Thacker	5,572	60.54	+7.01
	Labour	Hiram Hunter	3,632	39.46	+10.65
Informal votes			216	2.29	+1.39
Majority			1,940	21.08	−3.64
Turnout			9,420	80.75	−7.47
Registered electors			11,666

1914 election

1914 general election: Christchurch East^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Henry Thacker	4,093	53.53	+20.85
	Social Democrat	Hiram Hunter	2,203	28.81	−2.08
	Reform	George Duncan Macfarlane	1,350	17.66
Informal votes			70	0.91	−0.43
Majority			1,890	24.72	+22.99
Turnout			7,716	88.21	3.79
Registered electors			8,747

1911 election

1911 general election: Christchurch East, first ballot^[14][75]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Liberal	Henry Thacker	2,492	32.68
	Liberal	Thomas Davey	2,360	30.95	−24.61
	Labour	Hiram Hunter	2,356	30.89
	Socialist	Frederick Cooke	418	5.48	−2.57
Informal votes			103	1.33
Majority			132	1.73	−24.87
Turnout			7,729	84.42	−0.24
Registered electors			9,155

1911 general election: Christchurch East, second ballot^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Davey	4,042	58.55	−24.61
	Independent Liberal	Henry Thacker	2,861	41.45
Informal votes			33	0.48
Majority			1,181	17.11	−24.87
Turnout			6,936	75.76
Registered electors			9,155

1908 election

1908 general election: Christchurch East, first ballot^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Davey	3,479	55.56	+13.94
	Liberal–Labour	James McCombs	1,813	28.95
	Socialist	Frederick Cooke	504	8.05	+6.61
	Conservative	Charles Boxshall	466	7.44
Informal votes			124	1.93
Majority			1,666	26.60	+17.65
Turnout			6,262	84.31	−0.35
Registered electors			7,427

1905 election

1905 general election: Christchurch East^[76]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Davey	2,625	41.61
	New Liberal	Henry Toogood	2,060	32.66
	Liberal	William Whitehouse Collins	1,532	24.29
	Socialist	Frederick Cooke	91	1.44
Informal votes			124	1.93
Majority			565	8.96
Turnout			6,432	84.66
Registered electors			7,597

1871 election

1871 general election: Christchurch East^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Jerningham Wakefield	169	52.32
	Independent	Andrew Duncan	154	47.68
Majority			15	4.64

Table footnotes

1. Gilmore entered Parliament on 19 February 2013, following the resignation of Lockwood Smith. He resigned from Parliament on 27 May 2013.

Notes

1. "Representation Act 1870 (33 and 34 Victoriae 1870 No 15)". Parliamentary Counsel Office. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
2. "Electorate Boundaries". Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
3. Report of the Representation Commission 2014 (PDF). Representation Commission. 4 April 2014. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-477-10414-2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
4. "Report of the Representation Commission 2020" (PDF). 17 April 2020.
5. Scholefield 1950, p. 156.
6. Scholefield 1950, p. 145.
7. "Return of Mr E. J. Wakefield for Christchurch East". The Star. No. 826. 19 January 1871. p. 2. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
8. "Toogood, Henry Featherston, (1879–1962)". Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
9. McAloon, Jim. "Frederick Riley Cooke". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
10. "Parliamentary Candidates". The Press. Vol. LXII, no. 12364. 30 November 1905. p. 5. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
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17. Wilson 1985, p. 192.
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23. Scholefield 1950, p. 143.
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25. Scholefield 1950, p. 93.
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33. "Election Results". The Evening Post. Vol. CXX, no. 136. 5 December 1935. p. 5. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
34. "The General Election, 1938". National Library. 1939. p. 2. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
35. McAloon, Jim. "Armstrong, Hubert Thomas". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
36. "Split vote". The Evening Post. Vol. CXXXV, no. 14. 18 January 1943. p. 3. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
37. Scholefield 1950, p. 115.
38. "Five candidates". The Evening Post. Vol. CXXXV, no. 18. 22 January 1943. p. 3. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
39. McAloon, Jim. "Howard, Mabel Bowden 1894–1972". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
40. "The General Election, 1943". National Library. 1944. p. 2. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
41. Wilson 1985, p. 261.
42. "Dalziel invites Johnson to join mayoral race". The Press. Christchurch. 20 April 2013. p. A1.
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45. Small, Vernon (27 July 2013). "Shearer is running of out time". The Press. Christchurch. p. A21.
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References

• 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.

External links

• Electorate Profile Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine Parliamentary Library