(MENAFN- Live Mint) Nobel Peace Prize 2025 was awarded to Maria Corina Machado, a Venezuelan politician, for her fight for democratic rights for her people. The Nobel Prize panel, while announcing the Nobel Peace Prize 2025, said Maria Machado was given the honour for fighting for democracy at a time when political freedom is increasingly at risk from the rise of authoritarian regimes.

Emphasising the urgency of safeguarding democratic values in today's challenging global climate, the Nobel Committee said,“At a time when democracy is under threat, it is more important than ever to defend this common ground.”

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Maria Machado just as calls were mounting for US President Donald Trump as he mediated the peace deal between Israel and Hamas. He, too, has often claimed to have“stopped seven unendable wars”.

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Announcing the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025, the panel said it“goes to a brave and committed champion of peace – to a woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”

According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Maria Corina Machado is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for her“tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

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“Ms Maria Corina Machado has been a key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided – an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government. This is precisely what lies at the heart of democracy: our shared willingness to defend the principles of popular rule, even though we disagree. At a time when democracy is under threat, it is more important than ever to defend this common ground,” it said.

It further said that“democracy is a precondition for lasting peace. However, we live in a world where democracy is in retreat, where more and more authoritarian regimes are challenging norms and resorting to violence.”

The Nobel Prize Committee also claimed that in 2024, more elections were held than ever before, but“fewer and fewer are free and fair.”

Why Maria Corina Machado received the honour?

The Nobel committee said that Maria Corina Machado met all three criteria stated in Alfred Nobel's will for the selection of a Peace Prize laureate.

“She has brought her country's opposition together. She has never wavered in resisting the militarisation of Venezuelan society. She has been steadfast in her support for a peaceful transition to democracy. Maria Corina Machado has shown that the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace. She embodies the hope of a different future, one where the fundamental rights of citizens are protected, and their voices are heard. In this future, people will finally be free to live in peace,” it said.

Why was Trump passed over for Nobel Peace Prize?

Close watchers of the Nobel process, however, told Reuters that Trump's Gaza deal probably materialized too late to be considered for this year's prize, which technically covers achievements in 2024.

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