BARACK OBAMA AND NICOLAS SARKOZY ARE NOBEL PRIZE NOMINEES

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
22.06.2009 20:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A record 205 candidates are in the running for
this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, including 33 organisations, the Nobel
Institute said on Friday, with US President Barak Obama and France’s
Nicolas Sarkozy known to be on the list, AFP reports.

In 2005 199 candidates were competing for the prestigious
prize. The names of nominees are kept secret by the institute for
50 years. However, those who are entitled to nominate are allowed to
reveal the name of the person or organisation they have proposed.

Both Obama and Sarkozy are already known to be on the list, although
observers say it is unclear if either leader has a real shot at
winning the much-coveted laurel.

"Sarkozy has clearly been very active on the international stage,
in Georgia and in the Middle East where he has tried to help bring
an end to the Gaza war, but he has yet to truly show a breakthrough,"
," Gunnar Soerboe, head of the Christian Michelsen Institute told AFP.

Thousands of people are eligible to submit nominations, including
members of parliament and government worldwide, university professors,
previous laureates and members of several international institutes. The
Nobel Committee that awards the prize is also eligible to nominate
candidates.

According to Stein Toennesson, head of the International Peace Research
Institute in Oslo (PRIO), the most high-profile candidates did not
always figure among the most likely winners.

Other known contenders for this year’s prize include former
French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt and Chinese dissident Hu
Jia. Hu Jia was considered a front-runner for the 2008 prize.

The Cluster Munitions Coalition is also known to be on the list after
it played a central role in getting nearly 100 countries to sign a
treaty last year in Oslo banning cluster bombs.

This year candidates are of very diverse geographical origins. The
name of the winner will be announced in early October, and the award
will be presented at a formal ceremony held as tradition dictates
on December 10. Last year’s winner was former Finnish president and
career diplomat Martti Ahtisaari for his efforts on several continents,
over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts. In
2007 the winner was a former U.S. president Albert Gor.