New York's Democratic presidential primary will go ahead next month despite the withdrawal from the race of all challengers to presumptive nominee Joe Biden after a court overturned the vote's cancelation. State election authorities had called off the poll in late April with the support of the Democratic Party after the coronavirus pandemic hit American shores. More than a third of the 71,000 recorded US deaths from the COVID-19 outbreak were recorded in New York, the worst-hit state in the country. Biden's final challenger for the party's nomination, Bernie Sanders, had also already withdrawn from the race and endorsed his opponent. But former candidate Andrew Yang challenged the decision in Manhattan's Federal Court, saying the cancelation was arbitrary and undemocratic. Sanders also lent his support to the legal challenge and claimed the decision not to stage the vote was "a blow to American democracy." The leftist Vermont senator has asked supporters to vote for him in the remaining Democratic primaries to influence the direction of the Democratic Party and Biden's policy platform. The court ruled there was a "strong public interest" in letting the race proceed and noted that other Democratic primary races for Congress were still being staged on the same day. New York's state election board told AFP it would appeal the decision. tu/cn/gle/jah