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FORMER Fifa World Player of the Year George Weah was confirmed as the new President of Liberia today, with his rival Vice-President Joseph Boakai finally conceding defeat.
Weah, nicknamed “King George” by his supporters, had received 61.5 per cent of the vote with 98 per cent of the ballots counted.
He succeeds Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first female president.
Mr Weah won Liberia’s first independently run election since the end of its civil wars.
He stood for the Congress for Democratic Change, a coalition formed to support him. It is generally considered to be to the right of the Unity Party of Ms Sirleaf and Mr Boakai.
His running mate and new vice-president, Jewel Howard-Taylor, is the ex-wife of former tyrant Charles Taylor and a member of the National Patriotic Party, which he is believed to control from prison.
In 2012, she attempted to push a law through parliament which would introduce the death penalty for homosexual acts.
