CAPE TOWN, Jan 27 (Reuters) - South Africa's voting system is being made more transparent ahead of a national election this year to prevent the kind of violence that marred polls in Zimbabwe and Kenya, a top election official said on Tuesday. Post election conflict in Kenya and alleged kidnappings after a flawed vote in Zimbabwe were viewed as major setbacks to the spread of African democracy.

"We learned a lot from that (violence in Kenya and Zimbabwe) and in fact that is what made us improve," Brigalia Bam, chairperson of the Electoral Commission of South Africa (ECSA), said after briefing lawmakers on election preparations.

There are fears violence could spoil elections in South Africa, expected to be held in April. Unrest in Africa's biggest economy, would likely seriously damage investor confidence across the whole of the world's poorest continent.

The dominant African National Congress (ANC) faces its first serious challenge from a new breakaway party and there have already been reports of tensions between the two.

In this year's vote, parties will for the first time have access to the national voters' roll at polling stations, and results from all 19,575 voting stations will immediately be scanned onto a website for parties to retrieve, Bam said.

"We had to refine (our election process) because we suddenly realised we need more measures of transparency, of professionalism ... The most important is the records ... of the results," she told reporters.

There are 21.6 million registered voters out of a population of about 47 million South Africans, said Bam, just short of a target for 22 million.

She earlier told parliament ECSA would be "absolutely ready" to hold elections by April 15. President Kgalema Motlanthe must set the date in consultation with the ECSA, Bam said.

"This elections will be like 1994," Bam said of the South Africa's first democratic vote, which saw millions lining up to cast their ballot in a peaceful atmosphere. (Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Matthew Jones)

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