Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who lives in hiding, will not attend Wednesday's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and the award will be accepted by her daughter, organisers said.

Machado has only been seen once in public since going underground in August last year amidst a tense showdown with President Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela's attorney general has said the 58-year-old would be considered a "fugitive" if she left the country to accept the award.

It was not known in the hours before the ceremony whether Machado was in the country for the event due to start at 1:00pm (1200 GMT) but Nobel Institute spokesperson Erik Aasheim finally confirmed to AFP that she would not be there.

"It will be her daughter Ana Corina Machado who will receive the prize in her mother's name," Nobel

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