Meeting at PM House to finalize strategy ahead of National Assembly vote on November 14
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will meet leaders of allied parties at the Prime Minister’s House today to discuss the 27th constitutional amendment, taking coalition partners into confidence at an important consultation session scheduled for this evening.
It was decided to have the 27th constitutional amendment approved by the National Assembly on November 14. In this regard, the Prime Minister will hold consultations with allied parties and all foreign visits of ministers and parliamentarians have been canceled.
Furthermore, the Speaker of the National Assembly consulted with parliamentary leaders of all parties, and the agenda and timetable for the Assembly session were approved. However, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) parliamentary leaders did not attend the meeting.
Read: 27th Amendment – What We Know So Far
Yesterday, opposition MPs pulled out all the stops in the National Assembly against the proposed 27th constitutional amendment, sparking a political storm in the country at a time when the Supreme Court is already hearing petitions challenging the 26th amendment.
Speaking in the lower house of parliament, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan denounced the proposed new changes to the 1973 Constitution as “an attack on the House”, promising that his party would continue to raise its voice against the move.
Recalling the events surrounding the passage of the 26th Amendment, Gohar said the PTI, along with JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, had made “great efforts” to block it.
“Maybe this time we won’t need to visit his (Fazl’s) residence or sit with you in a committee,” he said, speaking directly to the vice president who chaired the session. “We will raise our voice against this because it is an attack on the House,” he added.
Learn more: Vawda meets Fazl as negotiations on 27th amendment gather pace
“Whenever there is a constitutional amendment anywhere in the world, it is done by consensus and in accordance with the needs of the country,” the PTI chairman said.
What we know so far
The capital is in political turmoil as the highly controversial 27th constitutional amendment is set to be tabled in the Senate this Friday.
As the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) prepares to take up the issue at its executive committee meeting scheduled for tomorrow, two questions seem to dominate all circles: what will the final draft of the amendment contain, and can it realistically be adopted, given the fragile coalition that underpins the current parliamentary set-up?
Deliberations on the 27th Amendment began shortly after the 26thth The constitutional amendment was adopted in October 2024. Yet until now, no one could say for sure what it would entail. On Monday, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari gave the first indication of what it will consist of in an article on X.
Based on Bilawal’s tweet, the 27th Amendment aims to further reform the justice system, building on the changes introduced in the 26th Amendment. It proposes the creation of federal constitutional courts in the provinces, the reestablishment of executive magistrates and the transfer of powers to allow judges to move between jurisdictions.
Bilawal revealed that a delegation of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by Prime Minister Shehbaz, met President Asif Ali Zardari and himself to seek PPP’s support for the adoption of the amendment.
Much now depends on the outcome of the PPP Central Executive Committee meeting, which is expected to determine the party’s final position.
Also read: Shehbaz, led by PML-N delegation, contacted PPP to support 27th amendment: Bilawal
The senate
Currently, 64 votes are needed in the Senate to pass a constitutional amendment. The PPP holds 26 seats, making it the most dominant party on the government benches, while the PML-N holds 20.
Among the coalition partners, the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) has four members and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) three. Independent senators from the government side include Abdul Karim, Abdul Qadir, Mohsin Naqvi, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, Asad Qasim and Faisal Vawda.
On the opposition benches, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) remains the largest party, with 14 seats, and a newly elected senator is expected to be sworn in soon. The Awami National Party (ANP) has three seats, while the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) has seven. The Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) and the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) have one senator each.
The PTI has unequivocally stated that it will not support the 27th Amendment. Tehreek Tahafuz-e-Aeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) has announced its intention to block any attempt to secure its passage.
Former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser criticized the PPP’s stand, saying, “There was once a PPP of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who laid the foundation of the Constitution, and another of Benazir Bhutto, who sacrificed her life for democracy. But today’s PPP is working hard to bury democracy.”
The last step
Once the draft amendments are finalized in the Senate, they will be submitted to the National Assembly for a vote.
The governing alliance may hold a two-thirds majority in Parliament, but without the support of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the passage of the 27th constitutional amendment remains uncertain. So, what is the party’s current position in the National Assembly and how many votes are needed to approve the amendment?
The National Assembly has 336 members, but with 10 seats currently vacant, the total number of sitting members stands at 326. To pass a constitutional amendment, the ruling coalition needs the “golden figure” of 224 votes.
