After defeating former football star George Weah in the election, Joseph Boakai will take office as president of Liberia on Monday and begin combating corruption and poverty.
In the runoff election in November, the 79-year-old barely defeated former Ballon d'Or winner Weah, receiving 50.64 percent of the vote to 49.36 percent.
Several foreign dignitaries and diplomatic delegations will be present when he takes the oath of office for six years at a ceremony in the parliament building in Monrovia's capital, starting at 10:00 am (1000 GMT).
Boakai has already served in politics for forty years.
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Before Weah decisively defeated him in the 2017 election, he served as vice president under Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the country's first female president, from 2006 to 2018.
The country in West Africa held a peaceful election in November despite the region having witnessed several military takeovers in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Niger in recent years.
But following years of civil conflict and an Ebola outbreak, the small country of five million people has been beset by corruption, extreme poverty, and a deficient legal system.
Another unresolved issue is impunity for crimes committed during those civil wars. During the election campaign, Boakai sided with local barons, including Prince Johnson, a former warlord.
2017 Johnson, who is well-liked in northeastern Nimba County, supported Weah.
In a video, Johnson was also infamously shown sipping a beer as his men executed former president Samuel Doe by torture.
Jeremiah Koung, one of his colleagues, has been nominated by him to be Boakai's vice president. The US has imposed sanctions on Johnson.
Liberians anticipate that Boakai, who made fighting corruption one of his central campaign promises, will fight corruption, strengthen institutions, create jobs, and improve the economy, given his lengthy political career.
"There are high expectations for Boakai's presidency," former Nimba County local official Larry Nyanquoi told AFP.
Boakai has been "seen as somebody who has not engaged in corruption and one who has tried to live the simplest possible life."
According to Nyanquoi, Liberians also expect Boakai to maintain a steady water and electricity supply and upgrade the country's road system to draw in investment.
