Bernie Sanders wins TIME person of the year readers' poll

Bernie Sanders, the Democratic presidential candidate, has topped TIME magazine's readers' poll for person of the year with a little over 10% of the total votes outdoing politicians and renowned world leaders including US President Barack Obama and Pope Francis. TIME also released the shortlist for this year's person of the year that is chosen by the editorial board but Sanders does not feature in the nominations.

The Senator from Vermont, according to TIME, "has helped to define the presidential race and mobilised the party's liberal support, despite trailing behind Hillary Clinton in the polls". If the latest polls are anything to go by, Sanders is lagging behind Clinton by almost 20% of votes and is less likely to be the Democratic nominee in 2016.

Sanders, however, has been admired for maintaining consistency in his views throughout his political career and attempting to halt money-driven politics. He is also popularly known for his progressive drug war policies and in November tabled a bill in the Senate seeking to end federal criminalisation of marijuana. Sanders has dominated the Democratic political scene by giving importance to fundamental issues such as income inequality and climate change.

The list includes Pakistani Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai who came in just behind Sanders with 5.2% of the votes followed by Pope Francis with 3.7% and Obama at 3.5%. Sanders's rival Clinton picked up just 1.4% of the votes, while Republican candidate Donald Trump took 1.8%. Other world leaders were also way behind Sanders with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi receiving 2.9% votes, German Chancellor Angela Merkel 2.4% and Russian President Vladimir Putin 2.1%, among others.

The magazine also announced the shortlist for the The Person of the Year title that has been chosen every year by the editorial board since 1927.

Here are the eight people who have been shortlisted. The announcement of the Person of the Year will be made on 9 December.

1. Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi – Isis leader

2. Black Lives Matter activists – Protesters fighting against inequality towards African Americans

3. Caitlyn Jenner – her coming out openly as a transgender woman has garnered focus on gender identity and issues of equality for the LGBT community.

4. Travis Kalanick – Uber CEO

5. Angela Merkel – Chancellor of Germany

6. Vladimir Putin – President of Russia

7. Hassan Rouhani – President of Iran

8. Donald Trump – Republican US Presidential Candidate