World figures outnumber influential leaders in politics and entertainment in the current top 10 of the TIME Person of the Year readers’ choice poll.
Although Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders continues to lead the poll, global figures take five of the top ten spots in the final week of voting — Malala Yousafzai in second place, Pope Francis in third, “refugees” in fifth, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in eighth and German Chancellor Angela Merkel currently in tenth place.
International leaders have been named most influential by the magazine in recent years; the Pope was TIME’s Person of the Year in 2013, and before that Russian President Vladimir Putin was chosen as Person of the Year in 2007.
Voting on the readers’ choice poll ends Dec. 4 at 11:59 p.m., and the winner of the poll will be announced Dec. 7. TIME’s editors will choose the Person of the Year, the person TIME believes most influenced the news this year for better or worse, but that doesn’t mean readers shouldn’t have their say. Cast your vote here.
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Write to Julia Zorthian at julia.zorthian@time.com