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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government has expanded consultations with coalition partners on the proposed 27th constitutional amendment, the prime minister’s office said on Thursday, as political negotiations intensify ahead of the bill’s expected introduction in parliament.

The amendment is under discussion with key parties in the governing alliance, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), in a bid to secure the two-thirds parliamentary majority required for constitutional changes.

According to political leaders privy to the issue, the amendment proposes creating a new constitutional court, restoring executive magistrates, revising the distribution of federal revenue among provinces and making changes to how senior judges and military leadership appointments are structured within the constitution.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif’s office said in a statement on Thursday the premier met a four-member delegation of the PML-Q led by Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Chaudhry Salik Hussain.

“The proposed 27th constitutional amendment was discussed and consultations were held in the meeting,” the statement said. 

In a post on X earlier this week, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said the government had also asked his party to support the amendment.

“Proposal includes setting up constitutional court, executive magistrates, transfer of judges, removal of protection of provincial share in NFC, amending Article 243, return of education and population planning to the federation and breaking deadlock on appointment of ECP,” Bhutto-Zardari wrote.

The National Finance Commission (NFC) award determines how federal tax revenue is distributed among Pakistan’s provinces and is considered a core pillar of the country’s federal structure. Executive magistrates previously granted local officials limited judicial powers over minor offenses — a system abolished in 2001 in reforms aimed at separating the judiciary and executive authority.

Article 243 of Pakistan’s constitution defines the command and control of the armed forces and outlines how the military leadership is appointed on the advice of the prime minister. The reference to resolving the “deadlock” in appointing members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) relates to ongoing disputes over the mechanism for nominating and approving the country’s top electoral officials.

Constitutional amendments in Pakistan have historically been used to reshape the balance of power between the legislature, judiciary and provinces. The proposed 27th amendment follows the 26th amendment passed in October 2024, which gave parliament a role in appointing the chief justice and created a new panel of senior judges to hear constitutional cases — measures critics said weakened judicial independence.

Pakistan’s constitution, adopted in 1973, has been amended more than two dozen times, often reflecting shifts in authority among civilian governments and the military. Provisions governing the NFC award are among the most politically sensitive because they underpin the country’s federal structure and provincial autonomy.

Legal analysts say the amendment could become one of Pakistan’s most consequential constitutional revisions in decades, potentially reshaping judicial oversight, the command structure of the armed forces and the financial autonomy of provinces.

The government has not yet announced when exactly the amendment will be formally tabled in parliament.

Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, the largest opposition party in the country, has pledged to oppose the amendment and has called for the full draft text to be made public.