Ivory Coast opposition asserts 12 dead in election violence

Ivory Coast president Alassane Ouattara casts his vote at a polling station during presidential elections in Abidjan, Ivory Coast (Leo Correa/AP)

Ivory Coast’s main opposition parties boycotting the presidential vote asserted on Saturday that at least a dozen people had died in election day clashes as incumbent leader Alassane Ouattara sought a controversial third term.

The election has revived painful memories of the West African nation’s crisis nearly a decade earlier that left more than 3,000 people dead before the country’s then-president was forced to concede defeat.