Congo Bishops Seek Election Re-evaluation

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Congo’s powerful Catholic clergy is calling on the election commission to re-evaluate widely criticized recent national elections that gave victory to the incumbent president.

A group of 35 bishops said Thursday that the November vote was badly organized and called on the commission to correct “serious errors,” or to resign.

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

Incumbent Joseph Kabila was declared the winner by the Supreme Court and inaugurated in December despite the fraud condemned by the international community. Observers have said it is not clear who won the vote in this mineral-rich country impoverished by decades of dictatorship and civil war.