In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Q: Image caption Mr Ashraf faces a difficult job, if elected 
  
 Pakistan's ruling party has replaced its nominee for prime minister after a judge ordered the arrest of President Asif Ali Zardari's preferred candidate. 
  
 Former Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf is now set to become prime minister. Voting is under way in parliament. 
  
 First-choice candidate Makhdoom Shahabuddin is wanted over illegal drug imports while he was health minister. 
  
 Pakistan has been without a government since Yousuf Raza Gilani was removed from office on Tuesday. 
  
 The move was part of a long-running and bitter feud between the government and the Supreme Court. 
  
 Observers say Pakistan can ill-afford its constitutional in-fighting - the country's economy is in crisis, as are relations with the US, and militants are waging a violent insurgency in tribal areas near the Afghan border. 
  
 "Raja Pervez Ashraf is our final nominee," senior Pakistan People's Party (PPP) member Khurshid Shah told a news conference on Friday after hours of speculation over a switch in candidates. 
  
 Mr Ashraf emerged as the likely next PM after high drama on Thursday which saw a judge issue a warrant for Mr Shahabuddin's arrest as he was filing his nomination papers. 
  
 Three other candidates are also standing for the post of prime minister. One, Qamar Zaman Kaira, is also a PPP member. The other two are Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam (JUI-F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan Abbasi from the PML-N party of opposition leader Nawaz Sharif. 
  
 The governing coalition has the numbers in parliament to win the vote. General elections are due by early next year. 
  
 Sleaze row 
  
 As with many politicians in Pakistan, the PPP's new choice to lead the government into elections also faces controversy. 
  
 Nomination turmoil 26 April: PM Yousuf Raza Gilani convicted of contempt and given a token sentence "till the rising of the court" 
  
 PM Yousuf Raza Gilani convicted of contempt and given a token sentence "till the rising of the court" 19 June: Mr Gilani is disqualified from his post as prime minister 
  
 Mr Gilani is disqualified from his post as prime minister 20 June Pakistan's ruling PPP party nominates Makhdoom Shahabuddin 
  
 Pakistan's ruling PPP party nominates Makhdoom Shahabuddin 21 June: Court issues arrest warrant for Mr Shahabuddin over imports of an illegal drug while he was health minister 
  
 Court issues arrest warrant for Mr Shahabuddin over imports of an illegal drug while he was health minister 22 June: The PPP nominates Raja Pervez Ashraf as PM 
  
 He has been dogged by allegations of corruption relating to power projects when he was water and power minister. He denies the charges. 
  
 But even if Mr Ashraf does become prime minister, he is likely to face the same Supreme Court demand as Mr Gilani for the launch of a corruption inquiry into Mr Zardari. 
  
 It was Mr Gilani's refusal to do so that led to his conviction for contempt in April and his disqualification from public office two months later. He argued the president had immunity from prosecution. 
  
 The charges against President Zardari date back to the 1990s when his late wife Benazir Bhutto was prime minister. They were accused of using Swiss bank accounts to launder bribe money. 
  
 President Zardari has always insisted the charges against him are politically motivated. 
  
 The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says Mr Ashraf is being seen as something of a sacrificial lamb. 
  
 The fact that he too has a corruption scandal hanging over him is for many irrelevant, our correspondent says - they see a judiciary that is now hell bent on bringing down President Zardari's Pakistan People's Party. 
  
 The PPP's main aim, correspondents say, is to see out its full five-year term, which would be a first for a civilian government in a country ruled by the military for more than half its history. 
  
 Some observers believe the PPP could benefit electorally if voters perceive it to have been persecuted by the judges and the powerful military. ||||| ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Parliament elected a new prime minister on Friday in a dignified ceremony that contrasted with the back-room intrigue of the preceding days and that offered at least a brief interlude in the wider struggle between President Asif Ali Zardari and the senior judiciary. 
  
 Raja Pervez Ashraf, a former cabinet minister with a controversial reputation, won a handsome majority of votes with the support of Mr. Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party, which leads the coalition government. 
  
 After the vote, Mr. Ashraf strode through the wood-paneled chamber, smiling broadly, before rising for his maiden speech as the premier of this troubled, nuclear-armed nation of about 180 million people. 
  
 “We are standing at a critical juncture,” he said. “We can either move forward or lapse backward.” 
  
 Mr. Ashraf’s swift ascent to power, predicted by few, capped an unusually turbulent week that highlighted the fluid dynamics of Pakistan’s power game. As a former minister for water and power, he bears some responsibility for the chronic electricity shortages that provoked riots in Punjab Province early this week. He also faces a corruption investigation. 
  
 But for now, Mr. Ashraf’s greatest challenge may be to stay in office. 
  
 On Tuesday, the Supreme Court dismissed his predecessor, Yousaf Raza Gilani, for refusing its orders. The court wanted Mr. Gilani to send a written request to the Swiss authorities that they reopen a corruption probe against Mr. Zardari dating from the 1990s. 
  
 Now the court is set to ask Mr. Ashraf to also write the “Swiss letter,” as the request has become known, setting up another potential confrontation. 
  
 “This letter business is not going away,” said Moeed Yusuf, South Asia adviser at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington. “The Supreme Court is obsessed with the letter, and so is the government. Everything is hostage to it.” 
  
 The drama over the letter is part of a wider power struggle between Mr. Zardari and the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The government says Chief Justice Chaudhry has dramatically expanded his judicial powers to persecute Mr. Zardari and oust his government through early elections. 
  
 Chief Justice Chaudhry insists that he is merely holding corrupt and inept politicians to account. Last week, however, his court brushed aside accusations from a billionaire businessman that he had given $3.7 million in bribes to Chief Justice Chaudhry’s son. 
  
 While the judicial soap opera has consumed the political system, and riveted the media, some now worry it could threaten the country’s brittle democracy, and even invite military intervention. 
  
 “If the Supreme Court pushes this further, and there is more instability, the fear is that a uniform will come along and say ‘All right, boys, it’s our show now. Time to go home,’ ” said Cyril Almeida, a columnist for Dawn, a Pakistani newspaper. “I personally don’t think the army has an interest in taking over. But this is Pakistan.” 
  
 This week, the military directly entered the drama when an army-run anti-narcotics agency obtained an arrest warrant on Thursday for Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Mr. Zardari’s first choice to replace Mr. Gilani as prime minister. 
  
 Mr. Zardari then turned to Mr. Ashraf, whom he swore in as prime minister at a ceremony at the president’s office, which overlooks Islamabad, late Friday. It was a contentious choice, even within Mr. Zardari’s own ranks, party officials said. 
  
 As minister for water and power between March 2008 and February 2011, Mr. Ashraf was blamed for the dilapidated and underfinanced state of the electricity grid. 
  
 As the temperatures have soared this summer, some areas have had up to 22 hours of power cutoffs. This week, rioters clashed with the police and burned properties in cities across Punjab, the country’s most populous province. 
  
 Mr. Ashraf is also battling accusations that he took kickbacks on the construction of privately financed electricity plants, known as Rental Power Projects, and used the proceeds to buy property in London. Those accusations have earned him the nickname Raja Rental. 
  
 In April, the National Accountability Bureau, which investigates corruption allegations, questioned Mr. Ashraf. He has denied the charges and called his accusers “liars.” 
  
 Although Mr. Zardari voluntarily surrendered many of his powers two years ago through a constitutional amendment, few doubt that he controls the government, with the prime minister doing his bidding. 
  
 The political crisis has stalled urgent American efforts to strike a deal over the reopening of NATO supply lines through Pakistan into Afghanistan. Officials on both sides say negotiations are stuck over Pakistani demands for an apology into a border shooting by American warplanes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last November. |||||
A: 
It's been a wild few days for Pakistan's leadership. First the country's high court gave Yousuf Raza Gilani the boot; then the ruling party's new nominee for prime minister was hit with an arrest warrant over alleged drug trafficking. Now, the party has nominated a new contender—and he's likely to become prime minister following a parliamentary vote today, the New York Times reports. "Raja Pervez Ashraf is our final nominee," said a party official, according to the BBC. But the controversy isn't over. Ashraf, once water and power minister, already faces anger over the country's electricity woes; he's also been accused of corruption. Opposition officials claim he scored kickbacks from private energy initiatives, and he was questioned by investigators in April. Ashraf isn't likely to win reelection, experts say—and that may be precisely why the Pakistan People's Party chose him. If he becomes PM, the high court will likely demand he open a corruption investigation into President Asif Ali Zardari. Gilani's ouster followed his refusal to do so; if Ashraf were similarly "disqualified," it would mark only a minor political setback for the party, analysts say.