Edward Snowden, Pope Francis among picks for the Nobel Peace Prize

Bloomberg Oct 4, 2014, 04.22AM IST

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A Japanese group seeking to preserve pacifism in the Asian nation's constitution and Pope Francis, who has made the fight against poverty a focus of his tenure, are among the top contenders for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Other favourites include Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege, Edward Snowden, the former American intelligence contractor who revealed secret surveillance programmes, Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who defied the Taliban, and Russian media outlets such as Novaya Gazeta, according to bookmakers and researchers. The winner will be announced October 10 in Oslo by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

The Peace Research Institute in Oslo, which each year guesses on potential winners, has the "Japanese People Who Conserve Article 9" as its top pick in an updated list on Friday. The group is working to keep Article 9, which prevents Japan from "belligerency," as part of the nation's constitution.

"We may have come to think of wars between states as virtually extinct after the end of the Cold War, but events in Ukraine and simmering tensions in East Asia remind us they may reappear," PRIO said. "A return to a principle often hailed in earlier periods of the Peace Prize would be well timed."

FAVOURITIES

Pope Francis is favoured to win the peace award by bookmakers William Hill and Paddy Power, with odds of 11-4 and 9-4, respectively. Since his election in March 2013, Francis, 77, has pleaded for a reduction of inequalities on a global basis, including in a message to this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Snowden, 31, who was nominated for the prize by two Norwegian lawmakers from the Socialist Left Party, could win for revealing secret surveillance programs by the US National Security Agency in 2013 even though the leaks remain controversial. Snowden, who was granted asylum by Russia as he faces prosecution in the US, has 10-1 odds to win at William Hill and 14-1 at Paddy Power.

SECOND PICK

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Edward Snowden, Pope Francis among picks for the Nobel Peace Prize