Strong support ... Mohamed Mursi prepares to vote. Photo: Reuters
Amid the chaos of the first-floor polling station in Cairo's working-class northern suburbs, an old woman broke through the crowd to make her way down the stairs, one painful step at a time.
As she finally reached the ground floor, she turned and held up her hand to reveal an ink-stained finger, her face crinkling into a proud smile. She had just voted in her first presidential election, her raised hand democracy's new salute in Egypt.
Like most of the women who came down those stairs in the struggling suburb of al-Sharabia in Shubra, she had favoured one candidate - Mohamed Mursi from the Muslim Brotherhood. After dominating the parliamentary elections in November and December by capturing 43 per cent of the vote, it appeared the group's fortunes had faded after a lacklustre performance in which little has been achieved since they took control of both houses of government.
The power of one ... a voter shows her ink-stained finger. Photo: Reuters
A Gallup poll taken in the month before the presidential election found 42 per cent of Egyptians supported the Muslim Brotherhood, still high, but a decline from the extraordinary 63 per cent who expressed support in February. Support for the more conservative Salafi parties also declined, from 37 per cent to 25 per cent, the poll found.
But a last-minute push from the Brotherhood, culminating in rallies in Cairo and other centres around Egypt on the eve of this week's elections, may mean Mursi makes it into the second round run-off scheduled for next month.
One observer, who asked to remain anonymous, said there was a real fear the Brotherhood would pull out all stops on Thursday to arrest any perceived lag in support following the close of polls on Wednesday.
''We expect to see them out in force to make sure Mursi makes it through to the run-off,'' the observer said.
Millions of Egyptians voted yesterday - the second and final day of polling in the first round of the presidential elections - after a relatively calm first day of voting in which there was one serious reported incident: an attack on front-runner candidate Ahmed Shafiq.
When the 70-year-old arrived to vote at a Cairo polling station, protesters hurled shoes and stones. ''The coward is here. The criminal is here,'' they shouted. ''Down with military rule.''
Like the ousted president, Hosni Mubarak, Shafiq commanded the air force before entering politics. He was prime minister in the last days of the Mubarak government and is seen by many as tainted by the old regime.
Elsewhere in the Shubra district, which is home to a large Coptic Christian population, voters expressed concern at a possible last-minute surge of support for the Brotherhood candidate.
Many Copts, fearful of a government and society dominated by Islamists, are backing Shafiq - not because they believe he is the best candidate but they are confident he will not bring religion to the post of president.
The other frontrunners are the former Muslim Brotherhood member Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, 60; the former foreign minister and head of the Arab League Amr Moussa, 75; and the leftist candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, 57.
Security is tight across the country - the military says it has deployed 150,000 soldiers to oversee the ballot, with soldiers stationed at every polling centre.
Egypt's election commission reported minor irregularities and violations such as polling stations opening late and candidates giving media interviews, but no evidence of vote rigging or vote buying.
 northeast of Cairo, May 23, 2012. Egyptians queued patiently to vote on Wednesday, eager to pick their leader for the first time in a national history dating to the pharaohs, with Islamists and secular-minded rivals who served under deposed President Hosni Mubarak heading the field. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS)){kind=link}