Samir Hassan lost his leg in a Baghdad bombing but that did not stop him voting in Iraq’s election on Sunday, determined to defy the men who maimed him. ‘‘I would have crawled here if I had to. I don’t want terrorists to kill other Iraqis like they tried to kill me,’’ said Hassan (32) at a polling station in western Baghdad.‘‘Today I am voting for peace,’’ he said propping himself upon crutches as he stood in line to vote in Iraq’s first election since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.In October last year, Hassan was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a suicide bomber struck in Baghdad.He thinks the target was probably a police station or a group of men lining up to be recruited. Either way, a piece of burning shrapnel flew from the bomb and lodged in Hassan’s leg just below the knee, shattering the bones.‘‘Everything just blacked out. All I know is that people were running above me and then I was in the hospital,’’ he said. Doctors were unable to remove the metal and decided to amputate his leg, barely managing to save the knee.If anything, he says his misfortune makes him more determined to battle on — via the ballot box — for change in Iraq.Standing in line alone, his shoddy clothes hanging off him,his trouser leg folded up beneath his amputated leg, Hassan hardly looks like a campaigner as he slumps on his worn metal crutches.But in his eyes, resolute and reddened at the edges, and in his face, scarred by the October blast, there was absolute determination and not a little defiance on Sunday.Rubbing the grey stubble on his chin, he was adamant that the only way forward for Iraqis was to vote and show they stand united against the insurgents determined to wreck the polls. ‘‘It is the only way, we must vote against them,’’ he said.As he moved forward in line in Hurriya, others around him seemed to have a similar resolve. With little emotion, hundreds moved through the polling centre, casting their ballots and quickly moving on.Despite draconian security measures, militants launched a string of attacks to try to torpedo the polls. They struck mainly in Baghdad, rocking the capital with nine suicide blasts in rapid succession. The Iraqi wing of al-Qaeda, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility. But despite the violence, election officials said the turnout had been above expectations. They originally put it at 72 per cent but later backtracked,saying possibly eight million had voted. But they admitted the figures were guesswork. With international monitors mostly staying away for fear of kidnapping, it was impossible to assess the fairness of the election or accuracy of the turnout estimates.A low Sunni turnout would damage the credibility of the first election since Saddam was toppled in a US-led invasion in April 2003. Iraq’s long-oppressed Shia majority looked poised to take power. —Reuters
