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.

[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.

[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).

[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.

[30] Allen was active in local affairs and was the headmaster of the Sumner District High School (1908–1933).

[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).

Dalziel had previously represented Christchurch Central (1990–1996) and spent the next three years as a list MP.

[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.

[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] 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.

Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.

Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.

Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.

Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.

Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list prior to the by-election.

Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.

Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.