Congo Opposition Leader Calls for Strike Over Poll Congo's top opposition leader is calling for a strike over last year's much-criticized election. Etienne Tshisekedi on Friday called for the strike to start Monday, but it is unclear if his call will be heeded. He has declared himself president despite officially losing the November poll. Congo's powerful Roman Catholic Church has also for called mass protests against what it calls "serious errors" in the results. Local and international observers have already said the elections were too flawed to be legitimate. It was only the second democratic election Congo has ever held, with the stability of the mineral-rich African nation at stake. Critics say millions of voters were unable to cast ballots, hundreds of thousands of ballots have been tampered with and 1.3 million completed ballots went missing.