Nobel Peace Prize 2015: The National Dialogue Quartet In Tunisia Wins Award For Role In Democratic Transition

The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to The National Dialogue Quartet in Tunisia for "its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011." The award was announced Friday in Oslo, Norway.

The quartet, which was established in 2013 following the Arab Spring, is made up of four organizations representing different facets of Tunisia, according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The Arab Spring, which triggered political assassinations and social unrest in Tunisia, left the nation on the brink of civil war before democratic forces took hold.

"The Norwegian Nobel Committee hopes that this year’s prize will contribute towards safeguarding democracy in Tunisia and be an inspiration to all those who seek to promote peace and democracy in the Middle East, North Africa and the rest of the world," committee chairman Kaci Kullmann Five said.

The five-member committee had provided no hints ahead of the announcement as to which of the 273 nominees -- 205 people and 68 organizations -- would win though speculation centered around German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Pope Francis.

“An essential factor for the culmination of the revolution in Tunisia in peaceful, democratic elections last autumn was the effort made by the Quartet to support the work of the constituent assembly and to secure approval of the constitutional process among the Tunisian population at large,” the committee said, in a statement, Friday.

“The Quartet paved the way for a peaceful dialogue between the citizens, the political parties and the authorities and helped to find consensus-based solutions to a wide range of challenges across political and religious divides. The broad-based national dialogue that the Quartet succeeded in establishing countered the spread of violence in Tunisia and its function is therefore comparable to that of the peace congresses to which Alfred Nobel refers in his will.”

Last year, the Nobel Peace Prize was received by Indian children's rights and education advocate Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistani activist for female education Malala Yousafzai.

Satyarthi took to his Twitter account Friday to congratulate this year's winner.