Nobel committee head should resign: Opposition leader

Oslo: A day after US President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the leader of Norway's main Opposition has called for the resignation of the Nobel Committee's chairman, a newspaper reported.

Siv Jensen, head of the far-right Progress Party, said committee head Thorbjoern Jagland should step down because his new job as secretary general of the Council of Europe compromised his independence.

"It would be politically intelligent for Jagland, after having studied the situation, to announce his resignation to avoid" trying to do two jobs at once, Jensen told daily paper Bergens Tidende.

Erna Solberg, leader of Conservative party Hoejre, also criticised Jagland's attempt to do two jobs and questioned his decision to hand Obama the prize.

Jagland, who has headed a Labour government in Norway and also served as foreign minister, was elected secretary general of the Council of Europe at the end of September.

This came several months after he became chairman of the Nobel Committee.

Friday's decision to hand Obama the Nobel Peace Prize came as a shock and has divided world opinion, with some calling the move a victory for ideals while others condemned it as deeply politicised.