East Cape is a large electorate in the north-east of the North Island. The electorate's main centres are Gisborne and Tolaga Bay in the Gisborne Region; and Ōpōtiki and Whakatane in the eastern part of the Bay of Plenty Region. The East Coast electorate was first established for the 1871 election. It was later abolished in 1893 and replaced by the Bay of Plenty and Waiapu electorates. More than a century later it was re-created in the MMP-era and won by Labour's Janey Mackey at the 1999 and 2002 elections. National's Anne Tolley won the seat at the 2005 election and held it, turning it into somewhat of a National stronghold, until the 2020 election when Labour's Kiri Allen managed a surprise upset in winning the seat for a single term. In the 2025 boundary review the old East Coast electorate was renamed East Cape. The electorate’s boundaries were unchanged.