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.

People make their choice during the first round of the Lithuanian presidential election in Vilnius, Lithuania, May 12, 2019. (Photos: CGTN)

According to the country's Central Electoral Commission (VRK) data after votes in 1,630 polling stations out of the total 1,972 stations counted, Nauseda leads the race with 31.2 percent of voters' support, while Simonyte ranked second with 27.1 percent.

Incumbent Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis received 22.2 percent of the votes and admitted defeat.

Simonyte, 44, a former finance minister in a center-right government, and Nauseda, 54, a former senior economist at a top bank, were favorites 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.

Meanwhile, independent candidate Nauseda expressed his gratitude to supporters.

Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis speaks to media during the first round of the Lithuanian presidential election in Vilnius, Lithuania, May 12, 2019.

"At the moment, the trend is obviously good. I would like to thank all the people who supported us, who accepted the message that we have sent to the society. Indeed, we want to create a state of welfare in Lithuania, we seek for more political peace, decision making in our country rather than pointless hustle," Nauseda told supporters at his election headquarters.

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.

"If I don't make it to the second round, I will resign. These are not empty words," Skvernelis told supporters.

The second round of the presidential elections scheduled for May 26, when European Parliament elections are also due to be held.