Liberia President George Weah has conceded election defeat to opposition leader Joseph Boakai after a tight race.

78 year old Boakai, a former vice president to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female head of state, led with 50.9% of the vote over Weah’s 49.1%, with nearly all the votes counted, ending a presidency marred by graft allegations.

The result marks a stark turnaround from 2017, when Weah trounced Boakai with 62 percent of the vote, but his tenure showed the lack of progress: Poverty, unemployment, food insecurity and poor electricity supply persist.

Weah’s concession paves the way for Liberia’s second democratic transfer of power in over seven decades.