Report: Committee divided over Obama for Nobel Peace Prize

Oct 15, 2009, 9:22 GMT

Oslo - The decision to select US President Barack Obama as the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate was not as clear-cut as initially suggested, Oslo daily Verdens Gang (VG) reported Thursday.

Three of the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee initially opposed the choice of Obama, according to sources cited by the newspaper.

The committee is appointed by the Norwegian parliament, and normally keeps a tight lid on its deliberations as well as advising nominators not to publicly announce their choices. For the 2009 award, there were a record 205 nominations.

Both Inger-Marie Ytterhorn of the Progress Party and Kaci Kullmann Five of the conservatives were especially doubtful about selecting Obama, VG reported.

Ytterhorn was apparently of the view that it was too early to consider Obama, who is just nine months into his presidency.

The unexpected choice of Obama was announced October 9. Obama himself said he was 'surprised and deeply humbled.'

Committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland, a former prime minister and foreign minister, underlined that Obama had helped change the tone of international politics and mentioned his proposals on reducing nuclear weapons.

Agot Vale of the Socialist Left Party also raised questions about Obama, and earlier this week was quoted as telling the Bergens Tidende newspaper that she had expected the choice to generate 'a debate, especially concerning the war in Afghanistan which she herself found problematic.'

Jagland of the Labour Party, who joined the committee in January, was likely supported in pushing for Obama by his party colleague Sissel Ronbeck, and finally secured a unanimous decision, VG reported.

The peace prize is one of the awards endowed by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.