Karzai faces West pressure over vote run-off

Western leaders have reportedly been pressuring Afghan President Hamid Karzai to accept a second-round vote ahead of the announcement of the final results.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and US Senator John Kerry were visiting Kabul on Saturday.

Also, the UN Secretary General, the US Secretary of State and the British Prime Minister have held telephone conversations with the Afghan presidential candidates.

The top figures had been working to persuade Karzai that he may have to face a second round of voting.

The discussions took place just before the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission was to announce the findings of its investigation into allegations of fraud in the August 20 presidential vote.

Election officials are going to announce the final outcome of the disputed presidential election on Sunday.

The unconfirmed results had given Karzai over 54 percent of the August polls.

The incumbent's main challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, ranked second with around 28 percent.

Karzai's rivals have accused him of rigging the elections. He has denied the charge.

This is while The Washington Post cited election officials on Friday as saying that Karzai's share of the vote was below 50 percent, which would force a runoff with his main rival Abdullah.

This comes as US President Barack Obama is weighing a request for the deployment of an additional 40,000 troops in Afghanistan.

The accusations have left Afghanistan in a state of political uncertainty.