The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado.

According to Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, the former opposition presidential candidate in Venezuela was praised for being a “crucial, unifying leader in a previously fractured political opposition. This opposition unified around the shared goal of advocating for free elections and a representative government.”

“In the past year, Miss Machado has been forced to live in hiding. Despite serious threats against her life, she has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions. When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognise courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist.”

Last year’s award went to Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of Japanese atomic bombing survivors who have worked for decades to maintain a taboo around the use of nuclear weapons.

The peace prize is the only one of the annual Nobel prizes to be awarded in Oslo, Norway.

Four of the other prizes have already been awarded in the Swedish capital, Stockholm this week — in medicine on Monday, physics on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday. The winner of the prize in economics will be announced on Monday.