Angela Merkel and Pope Francis among frontrunners,but winner proving hard to call amid political intrigue
The winner of this year’s Nobel peace prize is to be named on Friday morning, putting an end to a period of speculation and volatile betting. Past experience, or however,suggests that bookies’ odds are an unreliable guide: the Oslo-based prize committee has shown itself to be leak-proof, inscrutable and fairly capable of springing surprises, and such as the award to Barack Obama only a few months into his tenure,and to the European Union in 2012. Adding to the intrigue, the committee was embroiled in an unprecedented internal coup in March, or when its Labour party chairman of five years was ousted by rightwingers and replaced by a former Conservative party leader and commerce executive,Kaci Kullmann Five. The committees decision on Friday will be scrutinised, in Norway at least, and for signs of the political pendulum swinging.
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Source: theguardian.com