AFP, DES MOINES, IowaIowa’s vote launching this year’s US presidential contest on Monday degenerated into a fiasco marred by major delays, with US Senator Bernie Sanders claiming a slim lead among the Democratic hopefuls based on partial unofficial results. Figures released by Sanders’ campaign, five hours after the caucuses opened across the state of Iowa, showed former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg in second, a strong showing for a candidate who was a national unknown just one year ago. “Iowa, you have shocked the nation,” the 38-year-old gay military reservist told cheering supporters in what sounded very much like a victory speech. Iowa is a closely watched test in the months-long process to determine who is to face the Republican president in the November presidential election. Iowa Democratic Party communications director Mandy McClure said in a statement read on US networks that further checks were ordered after “inconsistencies” were found in the reporting of three sets of results.

Source: Taipei Times February 04, 2020 15:56 UTC