The 2009 elections will be free and fair, and will not be compromised by political interference, the Independent Electoral Commission said on Wednesday.

"There will never be political compromise, that will never and not happen in South Africa," IEC chairperson Brigalia Bam told a gathering of political parties and civil organisations at the official launch of the 2009 provincial and national elections in Midrand.

Among the guests was ANC president Jacob Zuma and the leaders of the United Democratic Movement and Freedom Front Plus, Bantu Holomisa and Pieter Mulder respectively.

Voter education critical

Bam said one of the lessons learnt from previous elections was that voter education had not been adequate.

"We have learnt in the past that we didn't do it very well," she said, adding that more money had been allocated to address this concern.

Another concern was the number of male and youth voters.

Chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakukula said that of the just over 20 million voters currently on the roll, almost 55 percent were women and more than 26 percent were youth.

"We remain concerned however about the low level of participation by the youth. For this reason, we will continue in our efforts to ensure that young people register and exercise their votes."

Bam said more male voters also needed to be encouraged and one way of targeting them would be in the boardroom and in advertisements on television.

"We want to catch the men while they're watching football, cricket and rugby," she said.

Referring to speculation that the elections could happen earlier than expected, Bam said that preparations on the elections were happening every day but that it could not take place sooner than in seven months time.

"In seven months' time, which is normal in our Constitution, we are ready," she said.

Mbeki speculation

Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder said that the speculation that an election would be held sooner in an attempt to oust President Thabo Mbeki was not necessary.

"They just have to go to Parliament... they don't have to go through the risk [of holding an election sooner]."

Federation of Democrats leader Louis Green said his party was positive that the elections would be conducted impartially.

"Thus far we trust that 2009 will be free and fair," he said.

Spokesperson for the National Democratic Convention, Margaret Arnolds said she would hold the IEC to its assurances that counting of votes would not be rigged and that the commission would remain independent and impartial.

"We will keep it to its word that it will be impartial. We are all runners irrespective of how big or how small."

136 political parties

Tlakula said a total of 136 political parties had registered to date.

"This is not the final figure of registered voters for the elections. There are ongoing registration campaigns."

In addition, the commission would also open all its voting stations on 8 and 9 November to give members of the public an opportunity to register if they had not done so before or if their addresses had changed.

The number of voting stations had increased from 14 650 in the 1999 elections to 19 705. This increase was to allow for shorter travelling distances and "unnecessarily long" queues.

Tlakula said a new set of criteria had been put in place for the appointment of electoral staff, and presiding and deputy presiding officers in particular.

These include that presiding officers and their deputies must not have held political office, been a candidate for political office, been politically active in a party, or held office in an organisation that had party affiliations or aims in the past five years.

"In our quest to fair in the management of elections, we are totally impartial and neutral with regard to the appointment of election officials," she said.

More than 100 000 officials would be trained for voting day.

Sapa