Record 205 nominations for 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

US President Barack Obama and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy are believed to be among a record 205 nominations for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

The secretive five-member awards committee, which released its final nominations count on Friday, keeps the names of candidates secret for 50 years. But some of the thousands of people with nominating rights do announce their nominees.

"It is very easy to be nominated for the peace prize, but that is in no way an endorsement by the committee," said Geir Lundestad, the Norwegian awards committee's nonvoting secretary.

The committee said that 172 individuals and 33 organisations were on the list by this week's final deadline. The previous record was 199, in 2005.

"There was a very good geographical spread this year," Lundestad said. The nominations include those postmarked by a February 1 deadline, and those added by the committee itself at its first meeting of the year, which was yesterday, he said.