Oslo: A total of 231 nominees are up for the
Nobel Peace Prize this year, the Nobel Institute said on Monday,
with Bill Clinton, Helmut Kohl, the EU and WikiLeaks suspect
Bradley Manning known to be on the list.
"As always, there are the usual `nominees` and some
newcomers, some famous and some unknowns, hailing from the
four corners of the world," the head of the Nobel Institute,
Geir Lundestad, said to a news agency.
With 188 individuals and 43 organisations, the number of
candidates comes close to last year`s record of 241, when the
prestigious award went to Liberian President Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee, and Yemeni "Arab
Spring" activist Tawakkol Karman.
Thousands of people are eligible to submit nominations,
including members of parliament and governments worldwide,
university professors, past laureates and members of several
international institutes, who had until February 1 to propose
candidates.
The Nobel Institute keeps the names of nominees secret for
50 years, but those who are entitled to nominate are allowed
to reveal the name of the person or organisation they have
proposed.
Among the people known to have been nominated for this
year`s prize are former US president Clinton, ex-German
chancellor Kohl, who led his country`s reunification process,
and Ukraine`s ex-premier and now jailed opposition leader
Yulia Tymoshenko.
Also on the list is jailed US soldier Manning, who has
been charged with 22 counts in a US military court for turning
over a massive cache of classified US documents to
anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks.
Despite its current crisis, the European Union is also
among the candidates.
PTI
