Over 21.6 million South Africans had registered to vote in the 2009 election, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Wednesday.

Briefing the media following the countrywide voter registration weekend, IEC chairperson Brigalia Bam said the drive had far exceeded expectations with more than 1.6 million new voters registering.

"The IEC is delighted to see the success of the weekend drive to register new voters, especially the youth, who represent a majority of the weekend registration activity at 77.9 percent.

"We are proud to say that this was our most successful registration drive since 2000."

Bam said more than 3.6 million South African's had visited more than 19 000 registration stations to either register for the first time, re-register or to inspect their details.

KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of new registrations followed by Gauteng and then the Eastern Cape.

She said male registration remained lower than demographics indicated and this remained an area of concern.

People can still register to vote at IEC offices on weekdays — however, Bam said another registration weekend was planned for February next year.

Sapa