Iowa caucuses: Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders take lead

DES MOINES–Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders are leading in Iowa's caucuses, according to partial results from the chaotic first vote in the race to pick a Democratic White House candidate.

Iowa's Democratic Party said data from 71% of precincts showed Mr Buttigieg on 26.8%, with Mr Sanders on 25.2%.Elizabeth Warren was third on 18.4% and Joe Biden fourth on 15.4%.

The eventual nominee will challenge President Donald Trump, a Republican, in November's White House election. Amy Klobuchar was on 12.6%, and Andrew Yang on 1%, according to the other preliminary results released on Tuesday evening from all of Iowa's 99 counties. Tom Steyer and Tulsi Gabbard were on less than 1%.

But the state party has still not declared a winner from Monday's vote, which was derailed by technical malfunctions. Iowa was the first contest in a string of nationwide state-by-state votes, known as primaries and caucuses, that will culminate in the crowning of a Democratic nominee at the party convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July.

Eleven candidates remain in a Democratic field that has already been whittled down from more than two dozen. The results represent the share of delegates needed to clinch the party nomination under America's quirky political system. Iowa awards only 41 of the 1,991 delegates required to become the Democratic White House nominee.

But in the popular vote count, partial results showed Mr Sanders leading with 32,673 ballots, while Mr Buttigieg was second at 31,353. Ms Warren was third with 25,692, followed by Mr Biden at 16,447 and Ms Klobuchar at 15,470.