Pretoria - The Free State Independent Electoral Commission says it's ready for the more than one million registered voters in the province who will cast their vote on Wednesday.
According to the Provincial Electoral Commission spokesperson Jabulani Christopher Mepha, 58 percent of the registered voters are young people.
The 1 320 voting stations in the province, which are set to open at 7am in the morning, will close at 7pm in the evening.
Mepha told BuaNews that they had received 19 000 special votes requests of which 12 000 were at voters' homes.
"We are ready for the elections and we would like to encourage people to come in numbers to cast their votes," Mepha said.
About 200 000 South Africans had applied for special votes which also included members of the South African Police Service who will be on duty on voting day, voting station staff, media, political party agents as well as voters who are deployed from home for work reasons.
Chief Electoral Officer, Advocate Pansy Tlakula yesterday said the IEC was happy with security at its voting stations and the so-called hot spots.
This years' local election is said to be the most contested since 1994 and analysts say people were likely to come out in numbers to make their choices following rolling service delivery protests in most parts of the country.
The IEC said about 70.5 million ballot papers had been printed and will be distributed to voting stations across the country.
Provincial Governments have also reported readiness in complying with all legislative requirements in preparations for the election and to continue supporting municipalities in ensuring readiness.
