Joseph Boakai has been elected president of Liberia with 50.64% of the vote, beating President George Weah, who got 49.36%.

This is according to the final results announced by the election commission on Monday.

Speaking to Reuters on Sunday, Boakai, 78, a former vice president who lost to Weah in the 2017 runoff and campaigned on a promise to "rescue" Liberia, said that he expected a lot of challenges, particularly with the economy.

"The first step of rescuing Liberia is taking it from these people. It has been rescued. The next thing is to deal with the issues that have been hanging over this country," Boakai said.

Boakai said a key area Liberians had not benefited from was the mining sector, despite the West African country's rich mineral reserves, including diamonds, gold, iron ore, and timber.

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"To be frank with you, the mining sector has been one of the problems in this country. I have seen our resources exploited and the life of the people remains the worse," Boakai said.

Asked if this would include reviewing mining concessions, Boakai said reviews would be pursued if warranted.

"We have to, because we are inheriting," he said.