Ex-footballer Weah elected to lead Liberia

Former footballer George Weah is to become Liberia’s president on his second attempt.

With almost all ballots from the country’s run-off vote counted, Mr Weah is well ahead of opponent Joseph Boakai.

He will succeed Africa’s first elected female president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, in Liberia’s first democratic handover in decades.

She defeated Mr Weah in the presidential election run-off in 2005.

Mr Weah played for clubs including Chelsea and AC Milan.

Former international soccer star George Weah is poised to win Liberia’s presidency, according to provisional results released by the National Elections Commission.

With 98.1 percent of the votes counted in Tuesday’s run-off election, Weah had received 61.5 percent of ballots and Vice President Joseph Boakai had received 38.5 per cent.

The final results, and official confirmation of the former sporting star’s victory, are due today.

Weah, a Fifa World Player of the Year and senator who entered politics after his 2002 retirement, also led the first round of voting in October.

However the 51-year-old did not receive enough votes to win outright over the 73-yearold Boakai, who has been vice president for 12 years.

He won the first round in October with 38.4 per cent of the vote, compared with the 28.8 per cent of Mr Boakai. His failure to secure an outright majority forced a runoff.

The pair have been vying to replace current president Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who has served two terms.

This is the first time in more than 70 years the West African nation founded by freed American slaves is seeing one democratically elected government hand power to another.

Mr Weah played for football clubs, including Chelsea, AC Milan, and Paris St-germain, and is the only African footballer to have won Fifa World Player of the Year and the coveted Ballon D’OR, in 1995.

He entered politics after his retirement in 2002 and is currently senator in Liberia’s parliament.

His campaign – under the Coalition for Democratic Change banner – appealed to the youth vote, while incumbent Vice President Mr Boakai was seen as old and out of touch.

But Mr Weah’s election is not without controversy, as his running mate is Jewel Taylor, former wife of the warlord and former president Charles Taylor, who is serving a jail sentence in the UK for war crimes.

Weah’s party members were already celebrating, though results from four of Liberia’s 15 counties were yet to be released.

Armed guards surroundedthe NEC headquarters in advance of the announcement of the results.

The commission said 56 percent of the country’s 2.2 million registered voters cast ballots in the runoff vote.

Johnson Sirleaf was Africa’s first elected female president, in the country’s first democratic handover of power since 1944.

Mrs Sirleaf defeated Mr Weah in the presidential election run-off in 2005, after the end of a brutal civil war.