Votes Go to One Person, But Someone Else Gets Elected, Says Khawaja Saad Rafique
LAHORE: Senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former federal minister Khawaja Saad Rafique has strongly criticized the country’s current political and security situation, electoral system and debate over the creation of new provinces, saying that votes in Pakistan are cast for one person while someone else ends up being elected.
Addressing a special dialogue held at the University of Management and Technology (UMT) Lahore, Saad Rafique said the country’s real problem was not the creation of new provinces but a flawed political intent and violations of the Constitution.
کیونکہ جیلوں میں ڈالنے والے خود کو عقل کل سمجھتے ہیں۔ pic.twitter.com/zOB4T8hTya
— Shahid Aslam (@ShahidAslam87) September 5, 2026
“The tragedy of our country is that votes go to one person and someone else gets elected,” he said. “The interesting thing is that people have voted for every person who has gone to jail, but those who put them in jail have failed to understand this and are still engaged in the same practice.”
Commenting on the proposal to create new administrative units, the PML-N leader said that merely creating new provinces would not automatically solve the country’s problems.
“The white Englishman left, but the black Englishman was left behind,” he remarked, adding that he personally supported an empowered local government system and smaller administrative units.
لاھور (UMT ) کے تحت مکالمے میں اظہار ِ خیال ( پارٹ 2 )
ٓآزاد کشمیربلوچستان نہ بن جائےکہیں؟ خیبر پختونخواہ میں کیا صورتحال بنی پڑی ہے۔
رات کو وہاں مسلح لوگ مخصوص علاقوں میں گشت کرتے ہیں ،وھاں انکاراج ھوتا ھے ،رات کے وقت کوئی اتھارٹی باقی نہیں رھتی
ہم آنکھیں بند کر کے کہیں… pic.twitter.com/4eF6HqjIFo— Khawaja Saad Rafique (@KhSaad_Rafique) September 5, 2026
However, he stressed that the real issue was respect for the Constitution and sincerity of intentions. “Create smaller provinces by all means, but first establish an elected Parliament that no one can object to,” he said, adding that the person chosen by the people through their votes should become prime minister and govern the country.
Saad Rafique proposed several measures to help pull Pakistan out of its ongoing crises. He called for an independent, impartial and empowered Election Commission so that transparent elections could be held and the genuine verdict of the people accepted.
He also advocated electoral reforms to enable an ordinary middle-class political worker to reach Parliament. He called for the establishment of an elected Parliament whose legitimacy could not be questioned.
Instead of creating new disputes, he said, an empowered local government system and Provincial Finance Commission should be introduced, while student unions should also be restored under a defined code of discipline.
لاہور UMT میں پاکستان پولیٹیکل سائنس کنسورشیم کے تحت مکالمے میں اظہارِ خیال — (پارٹ 3)
آئین کی حکمرانی ملک کے تمام طبقات کو تسلیم کرنا ہوگی ۔ ریاستی نظام میں آئین کی بالادستی اور قانون کی حکمرانی ہی ایک مستحکم جمہوری معاشرے کی بنیاد ہے۔
ایک آزاد، غیر جانب دار ،خودمختار اور… pic.twitter.com/J4L3fed7KS
— Khawaja Saad Rafique (@KhSaad_Rafique) September 7, 2026
The former federal minister acknowledged that voters could sometimes make mistakes due to attractive political slogans, but said that the beauty of democracy was that the ultimate power remained with the people.
According to Saad Rafique, political choices improve over time as society learns from its experiences. He urged authorities to stop violating the Constitution and warned against turning parliamentary democracy into “parliamentary dictatorship.”
He stressed the need to uphold the supremacy of the Constitution and promote political tolerance rather than further undermining parliamentary democracy.
