Whakatāne forms part of the parliamentary electorate of East Coast, once represented by Anne Tolley of the New Zealand National Party. The town is the main urban centre of the eastern Bay of Plenty sub-region; incorporating Whakatāne, Kawerau, and Ōpōtiki, the eastern Bay stretches from Otamarakau in the west, to Cape Runaway in the north-east and Whirinaki in the south. Whakatāne is the seat of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, chosen as a compromise between the region's two larger cities, Tauranga and Rotorua.