Former soccer star George Weah has been declared winner of Liberia’s presidential runoff vote held on December 26.
According to the National Elections Commission (NEC) Weah, 51, had garnered 61% of valid votes cast from 98.1% of votes tallied. He is officially president elect and will take over from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Thursday’s announcement by the country’s election commission chairman, Jerome Korkoyah, means Weah will succeed Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as Liberia’s president next month, in what will be the country’s first democratic transition since 1944. It follows two devastating civil wars.
Weah topped the first round of voting in October with 38.4% of ballots, but failed to win the 50% necessary to avoid a runoff. Boakai came second with 28.8%.
Weah, 51, is the only African to be Fifa’s world player of the year or to have won the coveted Ballon D’Or for Europe’s best player.
Weah played for Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan in the 1990s before moving to England late in his career for spells at Chelsea and Manchester City.
