Mr Denktash says he prefers a party which toes the national line to win

In the vote, 140,000 Turkish Cypriots will elect members for the 50-seat parliament of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which is recognised only by Turkey.

However, the vote has come to be seen more as a referendum on the UN's peace plan to reunify the island's Turkish and Greek communities.

Mr Denktash rejected the plan in March, but the opposition wants it to be revived - and Mr Denktash to be replaced as chief negotiator.

Speaking to the Turkish press over the weekend, Mr Denktash said "if the majority of the parliament wants me to go, I will go."

'No alternative'

But he also accused his opponents of "looking for a quick entry into the EU, whatever the price" and said that he could use his prerogative as president to ask a party "which toes the national line" to form the government instead.

Next Sunday's general elections take place just five months before the Republic of Cyprus - effectively the south of the island - is due to join the EU.

It will do so without the Turkish Cypriots unless a reunification deal is reached by then.

The election campaign has been dominated almost exclusively by the issue of whether the Annan peace plan, named after the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, should be revived.

After the Turkish Cypriot leader Denktash rejected the plan in March, Mr Annan said it was no longer on the table, but the EU insists it can see no alternatives.

The two parties of the governing right-wing coalition, the majority National Unity Party and the smaller Democratic Party, both say they want peace.

But they refuse to negotiate on the basis of the Annan plan in its present form, saying the proposed federal structure does not guarantee Turkish Cypriots' rights against the majority Greeks.

Supported strongly and openly by Mr Denktash, they also argue for Turkey's guarantor status to continue.

Undecided voters

The opposition, on the other hand, campaigns on a strongly pro-European platform.

Led by the left-wing Republican Turkish Party, they argue that the Annan plan is "a good start" and negotiations based on it should go ahead as soon as possible.

Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan had a change of heart over Cyprus

Opinion polls show that Turkish Cypriots are torn between the two camps, and almost 20% of them are still undecided.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey seized the north of the island in response to a coup by Greek Cypriot nationalists, who sought unification with Greece.

The result of the vote in northern Cyprus is likely to have wide-ranging ramifications for Turkey, too.

The European Commission has recently warned Turkey that the absence of a settlement for Cyprus could become a serious obstacle to its aspirations to begin EU entry talks by 2005.

Ankara says that it wants a solution in Cyprus, but not at any price.

Radical statements

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan shocked the conservative establishment with his radical statements on Cyprus when he first came to power.

He warned Mr Denktash that "the policy of no-solution" and the preservation of the status quo were not options.

He later changed his mind. When he visited north Cyprus last month, he disappointed the opposition by making no mention of the Annan plan.

Analysts says his change of heart came after he studied the Annan plan more closely - and discovered for example the fact that 40,000 Turkish Cypriots would have to move out out their homes and be relocated.