Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won by a very small margin over her main rival Bernie Sanders in the Iowa primary.

Unlike the Republican race, which has 11 candidates, the Democratic primary race has only 3 candidates: former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders, and former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley. Due to his low voter turnout, candidate O'Malley decided to drop out of the race for the White House.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is holding a narrow lead over her opponent. Photo: Reuters.

According to the results posted on the CNN website, Mrs. Clinton won with 50% of the votes, only 1 percentage point ahead of the 49% of the votes of the second-placed candidate, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. The remaining Democratic candidate, former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, was a huge disappointment, receiving only 0 to 1% of the votes, much lower than the previous poll results.

Speaking to the crowd in Des Mones, Mrs. Clinton said: “As I stand here today, relieved by the results, thank you, Iowa, I want you to know that I will continue to do what I have been doing for the rest of my life. I will continue to be with you, and I will continue to fight for you.”

Earlier in the day, Texas Senator Ted Cruz won the Republican primary in Iowa, with 28% of the vote, while billionaire Donald Trump only won 24%. Florida Senator Marci Rubio came in third with 23%.

This is considered a surprise in the Republican Party's internal race because in all public opinion polls before the Iowa primary election, candidate Donald Trump was always far ahead of the remaining Republican candidates.

Iowa will hold its first caucus primary, while New Hampshire will hold its first primary.

Despite their small number of electoral votes, Iowa and New Hampshire are always two important states that have a tradition of guiding the national vote for presidential candidates. Statistics from recent US presidential elections show that the person who becomes President is often the leading candidate in the party's internal race in Iowa./.

According to VOV