Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who leaked classified documents shedding light on extensive US and UK government surveillance programs, will be the frontrunner for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize, according to Peace Research Institute Oslo.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) � The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in Norway projected former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden to top the list of Nobel Peace Prize nominees, the independent institution said Monday.

"PRIO Director Kristian Berg Harpviken has today released his initial speculations on the frontrunners for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize, to coincide with the Nobel committee�s nomination deadline," it said in a press release.

Snowden joins US and Iranian energy chiefs Ernest Moniz and Ali Akbar Salehi, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC guerilla leader Timoleon Jimenez, Guatemala�s anti-corruption officials as well as the Democratic Republic of the Congo�s advocates against sexual violence.

February 1 is the deadline for nominations, based on which the Norwegian Nobel Committee makes its decision. The winner is scheduled to be announced on October 14.
Snowden, who unearthed troves of classified documents shedding light on extensive US and UK government surveillance programs, was nominated for the prize in 2013. He received the so-called Alternative Nobel Prize, Sweden�s Right Livelihood Honorary Award, in 2014.
The whistleblower, wanted in the United States on charges including espionage, has been granted temporary asylum in Russia.
By Sputnik News