DES MOINES, the United States, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders are still leading after the release of the second round of Iowa Democratic caucus results.
The results, which accounted for roughly 71 percent of the precincts that voted, show Buttigieg with 26.8 percent, closely followed by Sanders standing at 25.2 percent.
Senator Elizabeth Warren and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden round out the top four with 18.4 percent and 15.4 percent, respectively, while Senator Amy Klobuchar, garnering 12.6 percent, takes fifth place.
No other candidates received double-digit support.
The Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) earlier Tuesday first released the results for 62 percent of precincts, showing Buttigieg and Sanders in the lead.
With a substantial number of precincts left to count and the margin so slim, the race could still be wide open.
Buttigieg, who's leading when it comes to state delegates, said Tuesday that the result "represents an astonishing victory" for his campaign.
"This is what we have been working, more than a year to convince our fellow Americans that a new and better vision can bring about a new and better day," he told supporters in New Hampshire.
Jeff Weaver, an adviser for Sanders' campaign, said the team is "gratified" with the results so far, which shows the progressive senator leading the popular vote.
"It's clear that in the first and second round more people voted for Bernie than any other candidate in the field," Weaver said in a statement.
The second round of results were announced a day after the Democratic caucuses in Iowa Monday night, the first nominating contest of the 2020 presidential primary.
The announcement of the full results was delayed due to a "coding issue" in a mobile app used to collect data for the Democratic events, according to IDP Chair Troy Price.
"This was a coding error in one of the pieces on the backend, but the raw data, the data that has come in, is secure," Price told a press conference on Tuesday.
The state party official also apologized for the reporting of the Iowa caucus results, which has caused confusion and discontent, but didn't say when the full results will come out.
Arthur Sanders, a politics professor at Des Moines' Drake University, told Xinhua that the incident "is not very good for the caucuses."
"In fact, the party may demand more changes next time," Sanders said.
Iowa, a Midwestern state, held Democratic and Republican caucuses Monday night, bringing tens of thousands of Iowa's registered voters to churches, public libraries, and school gyms for discussions about their presidential preferences.
Sitting President Donald Trump won the Republican caucuses in a largely symbolic vote as he was facing no significant challenge. In the 2016 presidential election, he won "The Hawkeye State" by 9.5 percentage points.
On the Democratic side, there are 11 contenders seeking the party's presidential nomination.
In Iowa, they were vying for the state's 41 pledged delegates to the party's national July 13-16 convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a gathering for the party's delegates to choose a presidential nominee.
Though Iowa's delegates account for only 2 percent of the 1,991 national delegates needed to become the Democratic nominee, a strong finish in the state could help him or her stand out.
