Run-off in Lithuanian presidential elections

There will be a second round of voting in Lithuania's presidential elections as none of the seven contenders secured an outright victory in yesterday's polls.

The top two candidates, a former prosecutor-general, Arturas Paulaskas, of the reformed communist party, and the Lithuanian-born American, Valdas Adamkus, will compete in the run-off on January the fourth.

Preliminary results for the first round give Mr Paulauskas a strong lead with about forty-five percent of the vote, followed by Mr Adamkus with about twenty-eight percent.

Trailing in third place was Vytautas Landsbergis, who led Lithuania to independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service