Taking office in January

The 51-year-old Weah, a senator who entered politics after his 2002 retirement from soccer, led the first-round vote in October but didn't receive enough ballots to win outright over the 73-year-old Boakai, who has been vice president for 12 years. Sirleaf didn't publicly support either candidate.

The new president is expected to take office in January.

"I've never been so happy in all my life. We were in opposition for 12 years. We're going to make history, like the children of South Africa did," said Josephine Davies, vice-president of the youth wing of Weah's Congress for Democratic Change.

Though voter turnout for Tuesday's runoff was low, Weah drew support from the younger generation, which makes up a majority of Liberia's population of 4.6 million people.

The commission said 56 percent of the country's 2.2 million registered voters cast ballots in the runoff, which was contested twice in court amid claims of irregularities, with its original Nov 7 date delayed.

Weah also ran in the country's last two elections, winning the first round of the 2005 vote that eventually went to Sirleaf.

AP - AFP - Xinhua - Reuters