Factbox: Five facts about Iraq's Iyad Allawi

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - As leader of the largest bloc in the new Iraqi parliament, secularist former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi will be the first to try to form a government.

Allawi, 64, ran on a nationalist platform, hoping to capitalize on widespread disenchantment with the Islamist parties that have dominated the political scene since 2003.

Here are five facts about Allawi:

* A secular Shi'ite, Allawi headed a transitional government in 2004 and 2005, when the United States pulled the strings and Iraq was on the verge of a sectarian civil war.

* A fluent English speaker, Allawi received a medical degree in London. He spent more than 30 years in exile and returned as a U.S. ally after the invasion.

* Allawi, a former member of the now-outlawed Baath party, says he survived a 1987 assassination attempt in London by Baathist agents when Saddam Hussein was in power.

* He has become a leading critic of the U.S. invasion and of the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. He accuses it of failing to provide better services and security and to reduce unemployment after almost four years in office.

* He was once also highly critical of Iran for meddling in Iraq and supporting Shi'ite militia, but he is reported to have sought to mend fences with Tehran. A visit he paid to Saudi Arabia before the election sparked controversy among Iraqis suspicious of foreign interference.

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal; Editing by Jon Hemming)