Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Nobel Peace Prize 2015 awarded to Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet - as it happened

The alliance won the award for 'its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia' after the Arab Spring

Lizzie Dearden
Friday 09 October 2015 07:53 BST
Comments
(Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Support truly
independent journalism

Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.

Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.

Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.

Louise Thomas

Louise Thomas

Editor

Here are the latest updates:

Please allow a moment for the live blog to load

A Tunisian democracy group has won the Nobel Peace Prize for its contributions to the first and most successful Arab Spring movement.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet "for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy" in the North African country following its 2011 revolution.

"It established an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war," the committee said in its citation.

The prize is a huge victory for small Tunisia, whose young and still shaky democracy suffered two extremist attacks this year that killed 60 people and devastated the tourism industry.

The National Dialogue Quartet is made up of four key organizations in Tunisian civil society: the Tunisian General Labour Union; the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts; the Tunisian Human Rights League; and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers.

"The Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 is awarded to this Quartet, not to the four individual organizations as such," the committee said.

There were 273 candidates nominated for the 2015 peace prize, five fewer than in 2014.

The award capped a week of Nobel Prize announcements, with the winners of the medicine, physics, chemistry and literature awards presented earlier in Stockholm.

The economics award - not an original Nobel Prize but created in 1968 - will be announced on Monday.

Additional reporting by Reuters

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in