Category: World Service
Date: 03.10.2005
Printable version
Nelson Mandela has been voted the person most people would like to run the world in a poll conducted by the 91Èȱ¬ as part of an interactive game called Power Play.
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The former President of South Africa received more than 8,000 votes with past United States President Bill Clinton coming second with nearly 7,500 votes - just ahead of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled leader and Nobel peace prize winner.
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Prime Minister Tony Blair was in 12th place - well ahead of President George W Bush at number 43.
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The toppled leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was at 90 in the list of nearly one hundred names on the 'ballot'.
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More than 15,000 people worldwide voted online to 'elect' a fantasy 11-member world government from a selection of the most powerful, charismatic and (in some cases) notorious people on the planet.
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At least one vote had to be from lists of 'leaders', 'thinkers' and 'economists' - but the remaning eight choices could be for candidates in areas ranging from the arts to sport.
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Footballer David Beckham was at number 72, one place ahead of Chelsea boss, Roman Abramovich, but well behind golfer Tiger Woods (45) and tennis star Maria Sharapova (62).
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Heart-throb actor Brad Pitt only managed 87th place, one place above singer Michael Jackson and five places above actress and singer Jennifer Lopez.
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Other well-known names winning support included actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger in at 46 - one ahead of media magnate Rupert Murdoch - Live Aid campaigner Bob Geldof at 30 and singer Kylie Minogue at 77.
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The American writer and commentator, Noam Chomsky, was in fourth place.
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The other members of the world 'cabinet' were: Alan Greenspan (chairman of US Federal Reserve bank); Microsoft's Bill Gates; Steve Jobs (founder of Apple computers); Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Nobel Peace Prize winner); tycoon Richard Branson; financier George Soros and - in eleventh place - UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.
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The highest-ranked women in the voting was Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi at 13th with Hillary Clinton next in 16th place and the former President of the Irish Republic, Mary Robinson, one place behind. Writer Germaine Greer came in at 38.
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The Power Game was part of the 91Èȱ¬'s global season Who Runs Your World? exploring where power lies in the 21st century.
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"We wanted there to be some element of fun - some light and shade - in the season," said Hilary Bishop, its joint project manager.
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"The idea - based on Fantasy Football - was about persuading our worldwide audience to consider not just individual names but the type of power they represent - moral authority, strategic thinking, a role model for young people, entrepreneurship, technology..."
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Alice Donald, the other project manger, added: "We asked 91Èȱ¬ World Service regions to nominate names in terms of all types of power - not just politcal leaders.
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"The hard part was trimming the the list to just under a hundred. We knew it would be hard to come up with names that everyone agreed were 'contenders' - but it's been a huge success with thousands worldwide casting their vote."
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While the online voting - via bbcworldservice.com/yourworld - was spread worldwide, the heaviest voting was in the Unitesd States, followed by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and mainland Europe.
