05 February,2016 08:58 AM IST | | Agencies
Controversial Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 2016 for his “vigorous” ideology that counters radical Islam as a weapon of deterrence, according to media reports
London: Controversial Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 2016 for his "vigorous" ideology that counters radical Islam as a weapon of deterrence, according to media reports.
An American male senator or congressman nominated Trump. Pic/AFP
The âunlikely' nomination of the 69-year-old hard-liner for the coveted peace prize highlights the vulnerability of the award - that it is easily misused as a publicity tool for a politician whose goals would seem to many as antithetical to the Nobel committee's.
Closely guarded secret
Nominations for the award, that had a submission deadline of February 1, are a closely guarded secret but those who nominate candidates can reveal the name of the person theyhave proposed, reports said.
An American male senator or congressman nominated Trump according to Kristian Berg Harpviken, director of Oslo's Peace Research Institute. Harpviken told a newspaper that he had seen the letter, which described Trump's "vigorous peace-through-strength ideology" as an effective "threat weapon of deterrence against radical Islam, ISIS, nuclear Iran and Communist China."
Harpviken said that whoever nominated Trump probably did it to secure more press coverage for the controversial candidate. "The fact that you're asking me about his nomination indicates that, if that was the thinking, it worked," he said.
