Sweden has just held parliamentary elections on 11 September, re-electing 349 seats in Parliament. The leftist camp, which had only one seat in advantage in Parliament before the election, lost to the rightist camp, with only 173 seats and lost its position in power. In contrast, the rightist camp won 176 seats and was able to form a new government.

The Social Democrats, the former ruling party, increased their number of seats to 107, but their allies (Centre Party, Left Party and the Greens) did not do as well as they would have liked, giving the Swedish Democrats, their rivals on the right, an additional 11 seats. The Social Democrats won votes but lost their power in the chamber, forcing the Prime Minister to announce her resignation.

It is likely that the Moderate Party will take over the position of Prime Minister. The World Dog Alliance (WDA) has been in contact with some of the Moderate party members, and a new Prime Minister will not affect the promotion of the International Agreement to Prohibit the Eating of Dogs and Cats.

On 28 October 2021, four Members of Parliament sent a joint letter to the then Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, urging the government to promote the International Agreement. In their letter, they stressed that ‘the consumption of canine and cat meat is outdated and inhumane, and poses an urgent food safety problem. The new pneumonia epidemic has shown that animal-borne diseases can have serious consequences worldwide, yet the consumption of dog and cat meat is still prevalent in some places. Sweden should send a global message – stop eating dog and cat meat now.’

In addition to Sweden, the International Agreement to Prohibit the Eating of Dogs and Cats was supported by nearly 200 cross-party members of Congress in the US, UK, Japan and Norway. 30 members of Congress from both parties wrote to then US President Trump on 7 February 2020 asking him to initiate the International Agreement. On 2 March and 24 November of the same year, 67 and 34 lawmakers in the UK and Japan respectively signed a joint letter to the heads of government showing their support for the International Agreement, and in 2021, four members of parliament in Norway signed a joint letter to then Prime Minister, asking the government to initiate the International Agreement, which shows the international recognition of the idea of the WDA.