Less than two months before the U.S. election, President Donald Trump seems to have something to celebrate – the name for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Citing the president’s role in the recent peace deal between Israel and the UAE, the far-right Norwegian politician has put forward Mr. Trump’s name for the 2021 prize.
Christian Tibering-Gazette told Fox News on Wednesday: “For his merits, I think he has made more efforts to create peace among nations than any other Peace Prize nominee.”
He added that he is not a big supporter of Trump. “The committee should look at the facts and judge the facts – not the way it sometimes behaves.”
Of course, nominations aren’t the same as winning – we don’t know the winner for another 13 months – so what can we make of this news?
So who gets to nominate a person?
For nominations alone, the barrier to admission is low: all nominations of heads of state or politicians serving at the national level are accepted.
University professors, directors of foreign policy institutes, Nobel laureates and members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee are also considered eligible to submit nominations for the prize. No invitation is required for nominations and as long as they are entered before February 1 of the qualifying year, they will be accepted.
There were 318 candidates for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize – the winner of which has not yet been announced. The Norwegian Nobel Committee does not comment publicly on its nominees, which have been kept secret for 50 years.
Has Mr. Trump been nominated before?
Yes.
And again, these would mean that you have to spend for these processes. In 2018, the right-wing politician was one of two Norwegian legislators to nominate Mr. Trump for the same prize, then for his efforts to bring about reconciliation in North and South Korea.
Mr. Trump did not take home the prize that year, but Mr. Tibering-Gajade, a member of the Conservative Progress Party, insisted that the U.S. president meet the criteria this time.
Last month a deal was reached between Israel and the UAE to normalize relations, with Israel agreeing to suspend its controversial plans to annex part of the occupied West Bank – Mr Trump announced in a surprise statement.
It is only the third Israeli-Arab peace deal since Israel declared independence in 1948, and the first official diplomatic relationship between Israel and the Gulf Arab state. Palestinian leaders are reported to have become protectors through the agreement.
“This is a hard-earned and well-deserved honor for the president,” White House Press Secretary Kyle McKinney said Wednesday. “Career politicians only talk about the kind of results this president has achieved on the world stage.”
Has the President of the United States been appointed before?
Mr. Trump is one of many American presidents to receive a Peace Prize nomination, including Mr. William Howard Taft, President Herbert Hoover, and President Franklin Roosevelt.
And if he receives the prestigious award, Mr. Trump will become the fourth U.S. president to win, followed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1920, President Jimmy Carter in 2002, and President Barack Obama in 2009.
Mr. Obama’s nomination – just months after the job – U.S. Was criticized in, with some arguing that it did not have the effect it deserved.
Between its blockers? Mr. Trump, who tweeted in 2013 calling for the withdrawal of Mr. Obama’s award.
Former Nobel laureate Gir Lundestad later said he regretted Mr. Obama’s choice. “Even many of Obama’s supporters believed the prize was a mistake,” he told the AP news agency. “In that sense the committee has not achieved what it had hoped for.”
Mr. Obama donated 4 1.4m (1.08mm) awards for charity.
Have there been controversial nominations before?
While the most famous recipients of the award – Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa – who won the prize – the broad criteria of nomination means that past nominees have included a very unconventional and controversial, choice.
Adolf Hitler was nominated for the Peace Prize in 1939 by a member of the Swedish Parliament. The nomination was withdrawn immediately after the sarcasm was reported. A few years later, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was nominated for the same award, for his efforts ending WW2 in 1945 – and again in 1948, in 1945.
Upon submission of nominations, the recipient is selected by a five-person Nobel Committee, appointed by the Norwegian Parliament. The 2021 prize winner will not be announced until October next year.