By Mohamed Fajah Barrie BBC Sport

Khadi played for Sierra Leone in the 1960s and 1970s

Former national footballer Nahim Khadi has been elected the new president of the Sierra Leone Football Association.

The 56-year-old received 32 votes out of a possible 61 on Saturday to defeat his closest rival in the race, Dr Foday Bangura.

This result came in the second round of voting since Khadi failed to get the required two-third majority in the first round, accumulating only 28 votes.

Joseph Samba Kelfala, the only other contender for the position, dropped out of the race after receiving the least number of votes (11) in the first round.

I am going to make sure that we have a well-organised league SLFA president Nahim Khadi

Khadi replaces former president Justice Tolla Thompson, who has decided to bow out of football administration.

"I am happy for the victory and I think the electorates have made the right decision," Khadi told BBC Sport.

"I am not going to let them down."

Sierra Leone crisis continues

Khadi's election brings an end to the power struggle within the Sierra Leone FA that has wrecked the country's most popular sport for the past ten months.

"My immediate task is to kick-start the game in the country as soon as possible," Khadi said.

"I am going to make sure that we have a well-organised league."

Dr Bagura welcomed the elections as free and fair, and said he was ready to work closely with Khadi in order to develop the game in the country.

Khadi has previously served as the team manager of the Sierra Leone national team as well as the junior side, the Sierra Stars.

The former defender represented the Leone Stars in the sixties and seventies, and counts leading sides Mighty Blackpool and East End Lions among the five Sierra Leone clubs he played for.