Again and again he stresses that he stopped the suicide bombing, stalled Oslo and prevented the declaration of a Palestinian state this week.So far he has failed to interest the electorate and, unless he can do so, this failure may lose him the election.. A MILITARY fence cuts across the beach. On one side, holidaymakers stretched out on deck chairs are enjoying the sun On the other, there is desolation. Hotels line up into the distance, but they are empty, their windows shattered. One tall hotel is still standing though half of it has been blown away The notice on the fence reads "forbidden zone" It could be a beautiful bay Instead it is a victim of partition This is Varosha, ghost town of Cyprus. It has stood empty and untouched since the island was divided between its Greek and Turkish communities 25 years ago. Now Rauf Denktas, the Turkish Cypriot President, has found a way of trying to open it.

He says refugees from Kosovo could stay there. "It's like the Mary Celeste in there," says one Western diplomat who has visited a hotel in the sealed town. "It's a complete time capsule of 1970s hotel decor, all orange and brown wallpaper."Varosha was the Greek quarter of Famagusta. When the Turkish army invaded in 1974 in response to a Greek Cypriot coup, Varosha's inhabitants fled. Locals say they left so quickly there are still clothes in the houses.Although it is now in Turkish Cypriot territory, Varosha has been closed ever since. Turkish and UN troops patrol the site.Mehmet Ozbada, who manages a local wine bar, says of the idea: "They're 25 years too late.

It should never have been closed." But Nafiya Kemal, a London-born Turkish Cypriot who works at the only hotel on the beach outside the closed area, says: "I think it's a great idea to put refugees in there. It's just wasted there, and homeless people could use it."But the Greek Cypriot government doesn't agree. Varosha is protected by a 1984 UN Security Council resolution, which says the empty town can only be resettled by its original inhabitants, who were almost all Greek Cypriots.The Turkish Cypriot authorities say the offer is purely for humanitarian purposes but some observers argue the refugee offer is just another attempt to open Varosha permanently. The North Cypriot authorities have been trying to have the resort unsealed for years. The North has struggled to keep up with the tourism boom of the South. Holidaymakers are put off because Turkish Cyprus is an unrecognised pariah state, and flights must be routed via a Turkish airport. A new threat is tourists' fears of Kurdish terrorism.Varosha is just the sort of resort the North needs.