The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) will be ready to stage the 2009 national and provincial elections from April 15, chairwoman Brigalia Bam said on Tuesday.

"According to our Constitution, we must be ready, with everything absolutely ready, by April 15. That is the timetable we are following as the IEC," she told Parliament's home affairs portfolio committee.

The IEC would be ready to open its 19,726 voting stations across the country from that date.

Bam noted it was up to President Kgalema Motlanthe to decide on an actual election date.

"Provided -- this is very important -- the president of this nation, according to the Constitution... has to decide on the date in consultation with us as well," she said.

Earlier, the committee heard there were currently 21.6 million registered voters, with the IEC confident it would have 22 million people on the voters roll in time for the elections. A final registration drive was to be held on the weekend of February 7/8.

A total of 150 political parties had registered for the elections, including 111 at national and 39 at provincial level.

A gender breakdown of voters registered showed 55.1 percent were female and 44.9 percent male.

Bam called on the department of home affairs to make available to the IEC figures that would tell them how many of South Africa's 48 million population were older than 18, and therefore eligible to vote.

She also asked for details of how many of these citizens had identification documents.

"We don't have these statistics," she told MPs.

The impact of Aids-related deaths on the voters roll also came under the spotlight.

Chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula said from April 1, 2007, to
March 31 last year, the total of those registered had dropped from 20,627,654 to 20,291,741.

"The decrease was as the result of deaths," she said, adding these were in the region of 35,000 to 45,000 a month.

Committee chairman Patrick Chauke noted this was a "very serious concern", adding most of those dying were young, and there was a need to address the problem.

According to figures tabled at the briefing, there has been a steady decline over the past decade in the number of young people (in the age group 18 to 29) registered to vote.

In 1999, the figure -- as a percentage of the total -- was 32.1 percent. On November 12 last year, it was 24.3 percent.

Tlakula said another challenge for the IEC was the migration of people within the country. This was important when it came to local government elections, because voters "have to vote where they live".

Tlakula said the IEC planned to employ 200,000 election officials to manage the poll. It had also procured 30,000 new handheld scanners, referred to as "zip-zips", for capturing data.

The IEC's "target" for the coming elections was a voter turn-out of not less than 65 percent, she said.