Electricity resumed on eve of Yemen's presidential election

SANAA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Electricity supply was resumed in Yemen's major provinces, including the capital Sanaa, on the eve of the country's early presidential election, after almost a year of daily long hours of blackouts, an official of the Electricity Ministry said Monday night.

"Electricity flow fully covered all the country's cities and villages after the ministry's engineers repaired all damaged electricity transferring poles of the country's main power station in Marib," the official told Xinhua, requesting anonymity.

The country's electricity supplies have been damaged for several times over the past year by attacks blamed on anti- government armed tribesmen.

Residents in several provinces confirmed the return of electricity supply, after suffering a year of regular 22-hour daily blackouts since anti-government protests began in January last year.

Yemen's security and public facilities in remote regions have been undermined by lawless armed tribes since the eruption of the one-year nationwide protests against the 33-year rule of outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Polling stations are due to open Tuesday morning to receive more than 10 million eligible voters in the presidential election, with Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi being the only candidate to replace Saleh, as part of a UN-backed political settlement agreed by the ruling party and the opposition.