KIGALI, Rwanda 

Liberia’s National Elections Commission on Monday declared former Vice President Joseph Boakai the winner of the Nov.14 presidential runoff election.

Boakai won with 50.64% of the vote against the 49.36% garnered by incumbent George Weah, with a margin of only 20,567 votes, according to the final results announced by the chairperson of the commission, Davidetta Browne Lansanah.

Boakai, 78, served as vice president from 2006 to 2018 under former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Weah had conceded defeat last Friday after nearly 99.58% of polling stations were counted, noting that “now, more than ever, unity is paramount for the love of Mama Liberia.”

Boakai, from the opposition Unity Party, is poised to be inaugurated in January next year.

He assured the nation that the "next few years will be a period of fulfillment and not hope anymore.”

The African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) congratulated the president-elect for his victory.

In a statement Monday, the AU also hailed Weah for his “statesmanship and gracefully accepting the outcome of the elections.”

AU chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat called on all parties to continue to “display maturity and embrace dialogue to consolidate democracy, inclusiveness and the rule of law.”

Weah, a football legend, had been in office since January 2018.

The two contested in the second round of voting in the 2017 election in which Boakai had trailed Weah again in the first round of voting.

Weah won 60% in the 2017 second-round vote.