LONDON -- The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Maria Corina Machado “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,” the Nobel Committee said.

The Nobel Committee called the Venezuelan politician and industrial engineer who is currently the opposition leader in Venezuela "a brave and committed champion of peace."

"Machado is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize first and foremost for her efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela," the committee said. "But democracy is also in retreat internationally. Democracy -- understood as the right to freely express one’s opinion, to cast one’s vote and to be represented in elective government -- is the foundation of peace both within countries and between countries."

"Maria Corina Machado has led the struggle for democracy in the face of ever-expanding authoritarianism in Venezuela. Ms Machado studied engineering and finance, and had a short career in business," the Nobel Committee said. "In 1992 she established the Atenea Foundation, which works to benefit street children in Caracas. Ten years later she was one of the founders of Súmate, which promotes free and fair elections and has conducted training and election monitoring. In 2010 she was elected to the National Assembly, winning a record number of votes. The regime expelled her from office in 2014. Ms Machado leads the Vente Venezuela opposition party and in 2017 helped found the Soy Venezuela alliance, which unites pro-democracy forces in the country across political dividing lines."

The announcement was made on Friday morning, but the actual award ceremony will take place on Dec. 10, in Oslo, Norway.

"Democracy is a precondition for lasting peace," the committee said. "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 Venezuelan regime’s rigid hold on power and its repression of the population are not unique in the world. We see the same trends globally: rule of law abused by those in control, free media silenced, critics imprisoned, and societies pushed towards authoritarian rule and militarisation. In 2024, more elections were held than ever before, but fewer and fewer are free and fair."

"Maria Corina Machado meets 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," the committee said.

Last year, Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese anti-nuclear weapons group, won the Nobel Peace Prize for their work toward the abolition of nuclear weapons, with the Norwegian Nobel Committee saying that the testimony of the Hibakusha, who are the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is unique in this larger context and that their perspective helps to "generate and consolidate widespread opposition to nuclear weapons around the world by drawing on personal stories, creating educational campaigns based on their own experience, and issuing urgent warnings against the spread and use of nuclear weapons."

There were 338 candidates nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025, of which 244 were individuals and 94 were organizations. This is a significant increase from last year when there were 286 nominees. The highest number of nominees to date was in 2016 when there were 376 candidates.

The list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize is released 50 years after the prize is awarded, in accordance with the statues of the Nobel Foundation.