Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has reportedly been named as a likely nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, for his administration’s efforts to end the conflict with Colombia’s largest left-wing rebel group, FARC.
Santos is expected to be among the 259 Nobel Peace Prize nominations this year, however there has not yet been any official confirmation.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee received a record number of nominations this year, beating the 2011 record of 241 candidates. The votes came in last week and the Committee will come to a decision on October 12, 2013.
“The prize keeps gaining importance and attention,” said Norwegian Nobel Committee Director Geir Lundestad. “Presidents, prime ministers, former laureates submitted many of the nominations…and we have plenty of new names as well as ‘old’ ones on the list.”
The Nobel committee is unable to reveal the final list of nominees, but public figures and organizations who have been charged with submitting nominations have been known to divulge or leak their choices to the public ahead of time.
Other likely nominees reportedly include Bill Clinton, Mayanar’s Thein Sein, U.S. Army private Bradley Manning and Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot. The name of 15-year old Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai has also been thrown around,due to her courageous resistance to the Taliban’s oppression of women’s rights.
The prize is awarded on December 10 of each year by the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The winner of the illustrious award will receive $1.24 million.
Sources
