Congo opposition calls on people to occupy parliament over election law

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Opposition leaders in Democratic Republic of Congo called on the people to occupy parliament on Monday to block a reform of the electoral code that they say is designed to keep President Joseph Kabila in power after his term ends next year. The law, which cleared a preliminary vote in parliament on Monday despite noisy protests by some deputies, would require the vast and chaotic central African nation to hold a census before a presidential election scheduled for 2016. In the statement released on Thursday, a grouping of opposition parties said that the census would take at least four years and called it a ploy to extend Kabila's time in power. Kabila is constitutionally ineligible to stand for a third term.