President Hamid Karzai has acceded to international pressure to hold a second round "run-off" election in Afghanistan to settle the controversial first round marred by fraud.

The election is scheduled for 7 November, before deteriorating winter weather conditions prevent an election taking place.

Karzai appeared at a press conference with U.S. Senator John Kerry, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Kai Eide, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan, to say he accepted the conclusion of the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC).

Claiming he was grateful for international help, Kazari called on the country to "take this as an opportunity to move... forward and participate in this new round of elections."

"We believe that this decision... is legitimate, legal and constitutional, and that it strengthens the path towards democracy."

The run-off was forced as a recount by the ECC confirmed widespread suspicions of fraud and ordered 954,526 votes from 210 polling stations to be discounted. Karzai's share of the vote fell below a 50 percent threshold required for a definitive victory.

The revised totals saw Karzai at 48.3 percent, whilst his rival, ex-foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, increased by over 3 points to 31.5 percent.

American and European officials report that Karzai and his supporters' initial intransigence softened after emergency meetings with Kerry and U.S. ambassador, Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, at the presidential palace in Kabul. Diplomatic sources revealed senior U.S. and U.N. figures - including Gordon Brown, Hillary Clinton and Ban Ki-moon - had issued ultimatums to the Afghan leader threatening to withdraw western support unless he complied.

"A moment of great uncertainty has been transformed into a moment of great opportunity," Kerry said.

Karzai is still expected to win the run-off election. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emphasised how close he remained to the 50 percent mark and said: "I think one can conclude that the likelihood of him winning a second round is probably pretty high."

The EEC report released some details of ballot-rigging it found during the two month investigation.

In a particularly egregious case, a polling station in Faselahcompound in Zarghoon Shaher, Paktika province reported a unanimous choice of one candidate. Under further scrutiny, the commission found that all 600 ballot papers had identical markings - none of which were folded, a necessary step to put them in a voting box - but despite this, they were recorded as votes for a different candidate to the one marked on every ballot.