A U.N.-led fraud panel said it would announce on Monday its long-delayed verdict on Afghanistan''s disputed presidential vote, which is expected to end weeks of political uncertainty in the volatile country.

Pressure has been mounting on President Hamid Karzai to accept a possible run-off against his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, or work out a compromise deal to break the deadlock.

The election, tainted by allegations of widespread fraud, has fanned tension between Karzai and Western governments fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

It has also complicated U.S. President Barack Obama''s deliberations on whether to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan to fight a resurgent Taliban.

"We will be releasing the results of our findings in a statement today," said Nellika Little, a spokeswoman for the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC).

For the past eight weeks, the ECC has been sifting through mountains of suspicious votes to determine whether Karzai has won outright or will face a second round against Abdullah, his former foreign minister.