An electronic control apparatus for driving a boat capable of safely and positively steering the boat to move forward and backward, including: a steering mechanism; a shift actuator for switching neutral, forward, backward; a throttle actuator for driving a throttle valve; and an electronic control unit connected to the steering mechanism, the shift actuator and the throttle actuator, for calculating a movement command value and an output command value for controlling the shift actuator and the throttle actuator, respectively, based on a steering position signal from the steering mechanism, and for controlling the shift actuator and the throttle actuator according to the movement command value, the output command value, feedback signals indicating control states, the electronic control section restrains the output command value until a shift operation of the shift actuator is completed, when the movement command value has been generated for shifting the shift actuator to forward or backward.