Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

She won "for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in its citation.

The former opposition presidential candidate in Venezuela was also lauded for being a “key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided – an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government,” said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee.

Machado said she was "in shock" to learn she had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, according to a video sent by her press team.

"I'm in shock!" Machado is heard saying by telephone to Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who replaced her as candidate in the last presidential elections after she was barred from running.

"We're shocked with joy," replies Gonzalez, who went into exile almost a year ago. "What is this? I can't believe it," insists the 58-year-old Machado, who lives in hiding in Venezuela.

The committee chose to focus on Venezuela at this time, in a year dominated by US President Donald Trump's repeated public statements that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

Ahead of the announcement, experts on the award had said Trump would not win it as he is dismantling the international world order the Nobel committee cherishes.

The Nobel Peace Prize, worth about US$1.2 million, is due to be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will. (Agencies)