VILNIUS, May 26 (Xinhua) -- The presidential runoff kicked off in Lithuania on Sunday with former Finance Minister Ingrida Simonyte and economist Gitanas Nauseda contending for the country's top job.
Polling stations are open from 7 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) to 8 p.m. (1700 GMT), with eligible voters of about 2.49 million.
The runoff sees a close battle between Simonyte, 44, supported by the country's main opposition party the Homeland Union-Christian Democrats, and Nauseda, 55, running as an independent candidate.
During the first round of voting two weeks ago, Simonyte received 31.31 percent of the votes, followed by Nauseda with 30.94 percent of the votes. In absolute terms the difference between the candidates in the first round amounted to 5,323 votes, according to the country's Central Electoral Commission (VRK).
Saulius Skvernelis, the country's prime minister, lost the election as he ranked third with 11.24 percent of the votes.
The first round's narrow gap between Simonyte and Nauseda who are both viewed as center-right candidates, has left political analysts and sociologists scratching their heads, refraining from predicting the outcome of the final vote.
Distinguishing themselves from the other candidate and attracting support from the first round's candidates was key before the second round, analysts said.
Simonyte highlighted her experience in politics, during especially the years when she served as the country's finance minister, during which the government implemented severe austerity measures to counter the effects of the 2018 financial crisis.
"Life had forced me to take complicated decisions, doing what was, in my opinion, best for Lithuania," Simonyte said at the last presidential debate on Friday evening.
Nauseda said he has earned people's trust working as an economist in one of the country's largest banks.
"It helped me experience life from the other perspective witnessing how business and economy work," said Nauseda at the same occasion.
For the first time in Lithuania, the advance voting is held for five days before the elections. According to VRK, 9.56 percent of voters have cast their votes during advance voting on May 20-24.
Dalia Grybauskaite, the incumbent president, will leave the office after completing her second term in July.
