Catholic leaders seek election re-evaluation

KINSHASA (AP):

Members of Congo's powerful Catholic clergy yesterday called for the election commission to re-evaluate "serious errors" in national elections that gave victory to the incumbent president, or failing that, to resign.

A group of 35 bishops said November's vote was badly organised and called on the commission to correct errors in order to regain the population's trust. International observers have said the election was marred by irregularities and that it is not clear who won the vote in this mineral-rich country impoverished by decades of dictatorship and civil war.

Group secretary general Abbot Leonard Santedi read the group's statement in the capital, Kinshasa.

Enormous sway

They called on the commission "to have the courage to call itself into question, to correct the serious errors that have damaged people's trust in this institution, and if not, to resign".

The Roman Catholic Church holds enormous sway in the overwhelmingly Christian nation.

Incumbent Joseph Kabila was declared the winner of the presidential seat by the Supreme Court and inaugurated in December despite the fraud condemned by the international community.