Pete Buttigieg is leading the Iowa caucus with 62% of the precincts reporting, with former vice president Joe Biden falling back to fourth spot.

The day was marred by a long delay before the winner was announced, due to what Iowa’s Democratic Party called “inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results”.

Spokeswoman Mandy McClure said: “This is simply a reporting issue, the app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion.”

Earlier, Iowa Democrats met at more than 1,600 schools, community centres and other public locations to choose their preferred candidate from a field of 11 contenders.

Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and Mr Biden had been front runners ahead of what is the nation’s first presidential contest before November’s election.

While waiting for the results, the candidates delivered what should have been post-election speeches.

Mr Biden said: “We feel good about where we are, so it’s on to New Hampshire”, adding that he would “walk out of here with our share of delegates”.

Mr Sanders said he had “a good feeling we’re going to be doing very, very well here in Iowa” once results were posted.

He said: “Today marks the beginning of the end for Donald Trump.”

:: Listen to Divided States on Apple podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Spreaker

More follows…

Source: Read Full Article