Popular Rotorua district councillor Tania Tapsell has been selected as the National Party candidate for East Coast in the upcoming 2020 General Election.

Tapsell is replacing current East Coast MP Anne Tolley who has held the seat for 15 years and is not seeking re-election but will be on the party list.

'I'm very excited to be chosen as National's candidate in East Coast," says Tapsell.

"I'm looking forward to meeting with the hard-working people across all parts of our electorate and helping to ensure we see a National government come September 19."

Tapsell was the highest polling candidate in the last two Rotorua Lakes Council elections and is less than a year into her third term on council.

If she wins the East Coast seat she will have to stand down from her position on council and a by-election will be held to find her replacement.

She is deputy chairperson of the NZ Community Board Executive Committee and is chairperson of the council's Operations and Monitoring Committee which oversees $1.2 billion in public assets. She has a passion for the environment and led the council's Sustainable Living portfolio.

Tapsell has a Bachelor of Management Studies from the University of Waikato, diplomas in business and marketing, and is completing her Masters of Management.

Tapsell began her career in tourism and iwi organisations before she went on to work for BNZ Business Partners and then Deloitte's in Rotorua.

She is now living in Maketu and has been seen in the East Coast electorate with National Party MPs such as Rotorua MP Todd McClay and former National Party leader Simon Bridges.

Her great uncle Sir Peter Tapsell was a highly respected Labour Party MP and held the seat of Eastern Maori for five terms. He was also Speaker of the NZ House of Representatives, the first person of Maori descent to hold the position, and the first person since 1943 to be elected speaker by an opposition party.

Tapsell has achieved national titles in cross country and gymnastics and was selected for the NZ Maori U21 Touch team. She is engaged to Kanin and has an eight-year-old stepson.

National Party Leader Todd Muller (left), Tania Tapsell, and Rotorua MP Todd McClay.

"[We are] Delighted to welcome Tania Tapsell to our phenomenal team for 2020," National Party leader and Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

"So connected with her community, she will be a superb MP for East Coast, continuing on the great work of Anne Tolley," says Muller.

'New National leader Todd Muller said it best – while we should take some pride in the way the country has come through the health crisis, we now face an unprecedented economic crisis that will require a different set of skills,” says Tapsell.

'East Coast is a diverse, beautiful electorate spanning from Te Puke through to Gisborne with farming, forestry, horticulture, fishing, manufacturing and tourism the backbone industries of our electorate.

'While the Government has talked big about funding from the Provincial Growth Fund, it has struggled to get these projects off the ground and generate the jobs that were predicted and needed.

"The people of East Coast work hard and they deserve a government that will deliver on its promises and support it through these uncertain times.

'We need the values and experience of a National government to help guide the East Coast, and the rest of New Zealand, out of this economic crisis.

'Todd Muller leads a strong, experienced team that can be counted on to deliver. I'm looking forward to campaigning hard to ensure East Coast continues to have strong National representation,” says Tapsell.