Simonyte, Nauseda reach second round of Lithuanian presidential election

Ingrida Simonyte and Gitanas Nauseda will face off in the second round in Lithuania's presidential election after Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis conceded defeat in Sunday's vote and said he would resign his post in July. Simonyte, 44, a former finance minister in a centre-right government, and Nauseda, 54, a former senior economist at a top bank, were favourites ahead of the election.

"I really believed I would get to the runoff, but the result shows that my expectations were too high," Skvernelis told supporters in Vilnius. Skvernelis said he would resign as prime minister on July 12, as he previously said he would if he did not reach the second round.

A runoff between the two top candidates will be held on May 26. (Reporting by Andrius Sytas, Writing by Johan Ahlander; Editing by Peter Cooney)