Given the impaired credibility of the United Nations on any number of matters, it is with a grain of salt that I take the following declaration (even though it's a helpful one):

The United Nations stepped into the controversy over the Iraqi parliamentary election on Wednesday, declaring publicly that the results of the voting on Dec. 15 appeared valid, even as the vote tally continued here.

Craig Jenness, a Canadian who led the United Nations' election coordination effort in Iraq, said his agency believed that the elections "were transparent and credible." He added that although all complaints must be weighed thoroughly, "we at the U.N. see no justification in calls for a rerun of the elections."

The assertion, made at a news conference in Baghdad, brought bitter denunciations from some Sunni Arab political leaders, who swore to continue pressing their claims that ballot box stuffing and other fraud had distorted the election results.