Speaker of Egypt's Shura Council and leading Muslim Brotherhood member Ahmed Fahmi on Wednesday said he did not believe that presidential candidates associated with the ousted Mubarak regime stood a chance of being elected, but nevertheless stressed that the people's choice should be respected in the event that they were.

"We respect the free will of the Egyptian people. We will not protest [election results] in Tahrir Square unless we have proof that the voting was rigged," Fahmi said outside a polling station in the Zagazig governorate, where he cast his ballot on the first day of voting in Egypt's first post-Mubarak presidential poll.

"Today is like Egypt's wedding day," he added, "paid for by the martyrs of last year's January 25 uprising."

Two presidential contenders, Amr Moussa and Ahmed Shafiq, both served as government ministers under Mubarak. In the run-up to today's elections, both candidates have faced mounting criticism from their electoral rivals who frequently describe them as feloul – or "remnants" of the former regime.

Both men, along with ten other less prominent candidates, are running against Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi for Egypt's highest office.