US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the architects of the Iraq war, are among the nominees for the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.

Former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency, are also right there with them.

Other nominees include French President Jacques Chirac, former Czech president Vaclav Havel, Pope John Paul II and the European Union.

The final count shows that "we have 194 nominations, of which 50 are organisations", Geir Lundestad, secretary of the awards committee, was quoted as saying.

The five-member committee keeps the list of candidates secret for 50 years, only releasing the number of nominations it receives.

The winner of the 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.3 million) award will be announced in mid-October.