Former international football star George Weah addressing supporters on at the his party's headquarters in Monrovia

orty-four hours ago, Liberia’s National Election Commission (NEC) announced soccer legend George Weah as the winner of Liberia’s presidential run-off, beating Vice President Joseph Boakai in the first democratic transfer of power in decades following two devastating civil wars. This development puts the nimble, towering former football striker on course to replace incumbent Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who took over at the helm of Africa’s oldest republic in 2006.

According to NEC, Weah had polled an insurmountable 61.5 percent of Tuesday’s vote, which was delayed several weeks after a legal challenge from Vice President Boakai. The electoral body further explained that with 98.1% percent of all votes counted, Boakai had secured only 38.5% support.

Weah, candidate of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) scored 720,023 votes, while the incumbent vice president and candidate of the ruling Unity Party, Joseph Boakai, scored 451,088, which is 38.5 percent of the total vote cast, according to NEC.

Before the official results were announced yesterday, Weah tweeted: “The Liberian people clearly made their choice… and all together we are very confident in the result of the electoral process.” Weah topped the first round of voting in October with 38.4 percent of ballots but failed to win the 50 percent necessary to avoid a run-off. Boakai came second with 28.8 percent.

Ravaged by a long-drawn war, Liberia currently suffers serious infrastructural deficit. The emerging consensus is that it is in dire need of a leader that can consolidate on the gains of outgoing leader, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who is stepping down in January. President-elect