The Norwegian Nobel Committee said Wednesday that 305 candidates were nominated for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize by the end of the deadline. This is the lowest number of nominations the committee has received in four years.

Over the last eight years, the number of annual candidates has exceeded 300. The Committee said that provisional record was set in 2016 with 376 nominations. Last year, this number stood only at 343.

However, in accordance with committee practice, the names of the 212 individuals and 93 organisations were not released.

“Who nominates, and who is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize is a secret for 50 years,” the board said in a statement.

As per the rules for nominations, people from all walks of life can submit a nomination for the prize and for anyone including past Nobel Prize recipients and members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Also, those nominating a candidate may choose to make it public, raising publicity both for the nominee and the proposer.

AP reported that Norwegian lawmaker Lan Marie Nguyen Berg of the Green Party nominated two climate activists - activist Greta Thunberg and Ugandan Vanessa Nakate, “for enormous mobilization" in their continents.

Thunberg has been nominated four times for this prize including in 2022. Last year, the prize went to human rights activists from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

In line with prize founder Alfred Nobel’s wishes, the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize is handed out in the Norwegian capital Oslo while the other awards are presented in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.

Five Nobel Prizes were established according to Nobel’s will. A sixth, for economics, was created by the Central Bank of Sweden in 1968 as a memorial to Nobel.

Also Read:Nobel Prize 2022 in Economic Sciences goes to Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig

-With inputs from AP

First Published:Feb 23, 2023 10:23 AM IST