ISTANBUL

The Lithuanians on Sunday are heading to the polling stations for the second round of presidential election, as incumbent President Gitanas Nauseda and Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte are facing off in the run-off.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) local time. Voting continues until 8 p.m., with results expected to be announced on Monday by the Central Electoral Commission. Nearly 2 million citizens are eligible to vote.

Nauseda, 60, who is running for re-election as an independent candidate, won the first round of the election on May 12 with 44% of the votes, short of the 50% needed for an outright victory.

Simonyte, 49, candidate from the ruling conservative Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats, came second with 20%.

The two also competed in the presidential election run-off in 2019, when Nauseda won after obtaining 66% of the votes.