Pakistan's new ruling alliance took control of the lower house of parliament on Saturday with the election of a new speaker. With this, new ruling alliance cemented control of the National Assembly after former Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote. <br />''<br />''The previous speaker and his deputy, both Imran Khan allies, had attempted to block and delay the vote, but the country's Supreme Court intervened and ordered a vote. The lower house of parliament eventually voted in favour of removing Mr. Khan from office on last Sunday.<br />''<br />''The new ruling alliance has already elected their candidate, Shehbaz Sharif as the new Prime Minister. The new speaker is Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, a former prime minister who belongs to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), part of the new ruling alliance. He was elected unopposed in the absence of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which resigned en masse from the house on Monday. If the resignations are accepted, Pakistan faces the prospect of close to 100 by-elections within two months, a major distraction for Shehbaz Sharif and his coalition partners and a potential platform for Imran Khan to mobilise support.<br />