Ayad Allawi, the former Iraqi interim prime minister has been living in a political wilderness for more than four years.

But now he is banking on returning to power in the upcoming parliamentary election next January.

Yet so far he has failed to build a powerful political bloc to challenge either the coalition headed by his chief nemesis, Nouri Al-Maliki the current Iraqi PM or the Iraqi National Alliance headed by Amar Al-Hakim.

His critics, and even some supporters -say his style of rule is authoritarian and it is bound to harm him and his cause.

Ayad Allawi is our guest for this week and he discusses Iraq's upcoming election and other prominent issues.

This episode of Inside Iraq can be seen from Friday, October 16, at the following times GMT: Friday: 1730, 2230; Saturday: 0300, 0830; Sunday: 0600, 1230 and Monday: 0130.