FILE PHOTO: Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at a breakfast campaign stop in Manchester Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders formally requested the Iowa Democratic Party recount some of the state's results from last week's caucus, citing 28 precincts where the campaign believes he was shorted delegates.

“While a recanvass is just the first step in the process and we don’t expect it to change the current calculations, it is a necessary part of making sure Iowans can trust the final results of the caucus,” Bernie 2020 Senior Advisor Jeff Weaver said.

Sanders narrowly lost to rival Pete Buttigieg in the Feb. 3 nominating contest, which took days to settle after a technical meltdown led to delays in determining the winner.

(Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Editing by Chris Reese)