Politicians are trying to avoid hugs and handshakes and carry around disinfectant with them, while campaign workers wear throwaway gloves to give out free cups of coffee ahead of the September 14 vote.

As pollsters predict a close race between the governing left-wing coalition and the right-wing opposition, candidates are trying to mobilise voters without exposing them to the A(H1N1) virus or falling victim themselves.

"Unfortunately we have to reduce the number of hugs, even though that's usually the best part of the campaign," said Health Minister Bjarne Haakon Hanssen, who is not running for re-election this year.

Witticisms aside, Norwegian authorities are taking very seriously the expected return of the virus in the northern hemisphere this autumn and its impact on the election.

"Norway is now entering the first phase (of contagion) and up to 30 percent of the population (1.4 million people) could fall ill in the next three months," the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said in July.

It is therefore unlikely that all of the politicians in the campaign -- who need to meet and greet voters -- would be able to keep the illness at bay.

Some have already been laid low. The deputy head of the opposition Christian Democrats, Inger Lise Hansen, was bedridden for several days after displaying flu like symptoms.

"We have urged our members to think twice before shaking hands or hugging," party spokesman Erik Lunde said. "But it's hard to run a campaign without shaking hands."

Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere of the Labour Party has pressed palms with thousands of people already in his first campaign, going door-to-door and handing out roses to Oslo residents.

He disinfects his hands regularly with an anti-bacterial product, as do his colleagues.

"We've maintained our meetings in public places and visits to companies and institutions but we are trying to avoid large gatherings in confined spaces where people have to huddle together," a Labour Party spokeswoman, Anne Odden, said.

At campaign booths across the country, some volunteers handing out waffles and cups of coffee wear disposable rubber gloves in a bid to limit the spread of the virus.

But the populist right-wing Progress Party, the main opposition formation, has refused to succumb to what it widely sees as paranoia.

"We are not taking any special precautions, we're not cancelling anything, we're not changing anything, except that we're more attentive to our hand hygiene," party secretary Geir Mo said.

The government has urged local municipalities to prepare for the possibility that a large number of voters and election officials could be bedridden on September 14.

In a letter, Local Government Minister Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa asked mayors to facilitate advance voting and home voting, where municipal employees collect ballots from the sick.

Bergen University political scientist Frank Aarebrot said he expected swine flu to have a very limited impact on voter turnout.

"I think the main consequence will be that a large number of people will vote in advance," he said.

"The flu is for the time being relatively benign. That doesn't mean that you want to catch it but it's not virulent enough to dissuade voters," he added.

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