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OSLO: A Norwegian lawmaker nominated Donald Trump for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for helping to negotiate an agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the second time he has presented the US president for the honor.
Thousands of people are eligible to nominate candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize, including members of parliaments and governments, university professors and former laureates.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which decides on the award, declined to comment.
“It is because of his contribution to peace between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. It is a unique agreement,” Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a member of parliament for the right-wing Progress Party, told Reuters.
Tybring-Gjedde, who nominated Trump for the 2019 award for his diplomatic efforts with North Korea, said he also nominated him this year due to the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.
Last year, Trump said he deserved to receive the Peace Prize for his work in North Korea and Syria, but complained that he would likely never get the honor. Former President Barack Obama, a nemesis of Trump, won the award in 2009, just a few months after his first term.
Nominations for this year’s award closed on January 31 and the winner will be announced on October 9 in Oslo.
However, being nominated for a Nobel is no guarantee that someone will win the prestigious award.
The Norwegian Nobel Institute welcomes all nominations, provided they are submitted by January 31 for the year in question and submitted by those eligible to nominate.
Each year the Nobel Institute receives hundreds of nominations. The Institute keeps names secret for 50 years, although nominees can publicly reveal their choice.
Trump “deserves” the Nobel, Tybring-Gjedde said, “especially when compared to previous laureates.”
“Be it the Camp David Accords of 1978 or the Oslo Accords of 1993, the protagonists have received the Nobel Peace Prize and this agreement is at least as revolutionary for the Middle East,” he added.
“For Nobel laureates, whether they are in … literature or chemistry, nobody cares about their personality,” Tybring-Gjedde said.
“It is not the personality that decides if someone wins the award, but what the person has actually accomplished to make peace in the world.”
