UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I have a question about iterators. Here is the code I have

Code:

template <typename element> 
void merge_sort(vector<element> &v) 
{ 
   element::iterator lo; 
     
}

Now thats all the code I have for the non-recursive merge sort at the moment, which obvioulsy isn't a lot, but I need to get this small problem worked out first. I am trying to create this iterator called lo, which will be equal to v.begin(). The problem is when I compile that code above, I get the following error:

merge_sort.cc: In function `void merge_sort(std::vector<element,
std::allocator<_CharT> >&)':
merge_sort.cc:13: error: parse error before `;' token

Where is this parse error? What am I not doing correctly to create the iterator?