Des Moines, Jan 16 (AP) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finished in second place in Iowa's caucuses over former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley in the fierce fight to emerge as the clear alternative to former President Donald Trump.

The Associated Press has determined that DeSantis will finish a distant second to Trump.

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With an estimated 10 per cent of ballots remaining to be counted, DeSantis leads Haley by approximately 2,300 votes, or about 2 percentage points. With votes reported in all but one of Iowa's 99 counties, Haley isn't doing well enough anywhere to catch DeSantis, based on the number of outstanding votes.

The race now moves to New Hampshire, which votes on January 23. Both DeSantis and Haley were well behind Trump, who was on track to set a record for victory margin in a contested Iowa GOP caucus. (AP)

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(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)