Perspective: US favourite tries to make a comeback

Ayad Allawi after addressing a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Allawi was the interim Prime Minister of Iraq prior to the 2005 legislative elections.

Iyad Allawi, the former Iraqi Prime Minister, is pushing for a return to power after assembling a parliamentary coalition of more than 80 seats.

The new bloc formed by the former Baathist, whose secular party enjoyed US support, is the first serious threat to Nouri al-Maliki’s Shia fundamentalist Government since it took office last May.

The former Prime Minister, who governed Iraq from June 2004 to April 2005, is presenting himself as a secular alternative to Mr Maliki and is promising to quell the sectarian bloodshed that has blighted Iraq since 2005.

Falah Naquib, a confidant of Dr Allawi and who was once interior minister, told The Times that if the movement took charge “I think Dr Allawi would be the prime minister”.

Read the rest at the Times of London