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1997 Constitution of Fiji: Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Parliament. Chapter 6 of the Fiji Constitution is titled The Parliament.  The five Parts, further subdivided into forty sections making up this chapter, set out the composition, functions, and powers of Fiji's bicameral legislature.

Part 1: The Parliament (general overview)

 * See main articles: Cabinet of Fiji; Parliament of Fiji

Part 1 of Chapter 6 sets out the general functions of the Parliament. It comprises sections 45 through 49 of the Constitution.

Section 45 vests legislative power in Parliament, which is declared to consist of the President, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. According to British constitutional theory, on which much of the Fijian Constitution is based, the British Parliament consists not only of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, but also the reigning Monarch, who is replaced by the President in the Fijian context. This had important constitutional ramifications. The Westminster parliamentary model followed in Fiji affirms the distinction between the executive and legislative branches of government, but does not separate them to the same extent as the American model does; there is considerable overlap. Although the office of the President is a largely honorary one, modeled on the British Monarchy, the Cabinet officially exercises executive authority in his name, and the President's status as a part of the Parliament is the source of the power of the Cabinet to initiate legislation.

Section 46 sets out the way in which legislative power is to be exercised. Bills become law on being passed by the two Houses of the Parliament, and assented to by the President. The latter step is a mere formality, however, as the President is expressly forbidden in this Section to refuse his assent. He therefore has no veto. This follows British practice, though not theory: no British Monarch has vetoed a bill for almost three hundred years (the last exercise of a veto was by Queen Anne in 1708), and "common law" makes it doubtful that any future Monarch would consider himself or herself at liberty to do so. The Fijian Constitution formalizes this ban on the royal veto. Prior to 1987, Fiji's Head of State was, in fact, the British Monarch. When Fiji became a republic and replaced the Monarch with a President, no drastic changes were made to the institutions of the state, or to their functions.

Sections 47 through 49 deal with the relative powers of the two houses of Parliament with respect to the passage of bills. All bills are to originate in the House of Representatives; the Senate has the power, with some limitations, to review, amend, or veto such bills. Senatorial amendments must be agreed to by the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives may override a Senate veto, provided that the same bill was passed by two consecutive sessions of the House of Representatives with an interval of at least six months.

There are three exceptions to these rules.
 * 1. The Senate's veto over amendments to the Constitution is absolute; the House of Representatives may not override it.
 * 2. The Senate may not amend money bills, defined as "Bills imposing taxation or appropriating revenue or moneys." It may, however, reject such a bill in its entirety within twenty-one days of receiving it.  If, at the end of twenty-one days, the Senate has done nothing about a money bill, it is deemed to have passed it.
 * 3. If the Prime Minister certifies in writing to the President of the Senate that a bill passed by the House of Representatives is "urgent," the Senate has a maximum of seven days to decide on its fate. If at the end of the seven days the Senate has done nothing about the bill, it is deemed to have passed it.

Greater powers given to the House of Representatives because it is popularly elected. The Senate's absolute veto over constitutional amendments, however, reflects the view of the framers of the Constitution that safeguards were necessary to protect it from being lightly tampered with by putting a veto in the hands of a body less susceptible to electoral pressure. With its built-in near-majority of Fijian chiefs, the Senate was also seen as a bulwark against attempts to amend the Constitution at the expense of ethnic Fijians.

Part 2: The House of Representatives
Part 2 of Chapter 6, comprising Sections 50 through 63, establishes the House of Representatives, commonly called the "Lower House" of the Parliament.

Sections 50 through 54 deal with the composition of the House. It is to consist of 71 members elected from single-member electorates by a system of transferable voting, under which the votes of the lowest-polling candidates are successively added to those of the second choice indicated by the voter. 25 members are to be elected by universal suffrage. The remaining 46 are to be elected by voters on closed electoral rolls representing Fiji's ethnic communities: 23 ethnic Fijians, 19 Indo-Fijians, 1 Rotuman Islander, and 3 "General Electors" (Europeans, Chinese, and other minorities). With the exception of 17 "provincial" electorates representing rural ethnic Fijians, which follow traditional provincial boundaries, all other electorates are to be substantially equal in population.

The make up of the House of Representatives was one of the most controversial sections issues to be decided by the constitution. It was not a new problem; it had delayed independence in the 1960s, and two previous constitutions, adopted in 1970 and 1990 had foundered on it. The 1970 Constitution had provided for a 52-member House, with 22 ethnic Fijians, 22 Indo-Fijians, and 8 General Electors, with approximately half of each ethnic group's representatives elected by a closed electoral roll and the remainder by universal suffrage. Hardline elements among the ethnic Fijian community resented the power this arrangement gave Indo-Fijian voters over ethnic Fijian representatives, especially in urban areas where Indo-Fijians were disproportionately concentrated, and was one of the reasons for the abrogation of this Constitution following the revolution of 1987. The 1990 Constitution abolished the common franchise, and established a 70-member House of Representatives elected on four closed electoral rolls: 37 ethnic Fijians, 27 Indo-Fijians, 1 Rotuman Islander, and 5 General Electors. Many Indo-Fijians bitterly resented the allocation to them of ten seats fewer than to ethnic Fijians, despite their being nearly equal in population. It also led to international condemnation, which helped to trigger the review of the constitution in the mid-1990s.

In the drawing up of the present constitution, many Indo-Fijians, including the Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry, pushed for a common roll and for the abolition of the communal electoral rolls, believing that it inhibited the formation of multi-racial political parties with a vision for the whole country; instead, voting typically followed ethnic rather than ideological lines. Many ethnic Fijians, however, wanted the specific allocation of seats to be elected by closed electoral rolls to be maintained, believing that their interests would not be adequately protected by politicians who were not answerable solely to ethnic Fijian voters. Under the mediation of Sir Paul Reeves, a former Governor-General of New Zealand, a compromise was worked out, according to which more than a third of the House of Representatives would be elected by universal sufferance and the remainder by ethnic voters on closed rolls, but with no single ethnic group allocated the 24 seats required to block constitutional amendments.

Sections 55 through 58 prescribe the qualifications a person must have, to be an elector for the House of Representatives. All Fijian citizens aged 21 or over, "or such other age as the Parliament prescribes," who have been physically resident in Fiji for the two years immediately prior to their registration, are entitled to enroll on (a) a Common Roll, as an elector for one of the 25 "open electorates," so-called because they are open to candidates of all races, elected by voters of all races, and (b) one of the four communal ethnic rolls, as an elector for a constituency reserved for one of the four recognized ethnic groups. Registration and voting are both compulsory.

For electoral purposes, this Section defines an ethnic Fijian as any descendant of a native inhabitant of Fiji (other than Rotuma). The Polynesian Rotuman Islanders are excluded, unless they also have some ethnic Fijian ancestry (predominantly Melanesian), because they have their own electoral roll. An Indo-Fijian is defined as any descendant of a native of the Indian Sub-continent, and therefore potentially includes people of Bengali, Bhutanese, Nepali, Pakistani, and Sri Lankan, as well as Indian, descent. Rotuman Islanders are defined as any descendant of an inhabitant of Rotuma. Ancestry may be traced through either the male or the female line, and there is no "blood quantum" - how close or how distant one's relationship to a particular ethnic group is irrelevant, provided that it can be proved.

The fourth electoral roll, for General Electors, is for people who have no ethnic Fijian, Indo-Fijian, or Rotuman ancestry, as well as for individuals who have such ancestry but choose, for whatever reason, not to register on the electoral roll reserved for their particular ethnic community. It is thus a very diverse roll; it includes Europeans, Chinese, Banaban Islanders, as well as small numbers of individuals of ethnic Fijian, Indo-Fijian, and Rotuman descent who have chosen this roll in preference to their ethnic roll.

The General Electors' roll had an interesting history. Prior to 1997, it also included all persons who had an ethnic Fijian mother but a non-Fijian father, as ethnic identity was defined according to the male line, a fact which caused considerable resentment among the large numbers of "Part Europeans" (who had a European father or paternal grandfather) and "Chinese Fijians" (whose father or paternal grandfather was Chinese). The popular politician, James Ah Koy, appealed against the stipulation in the former 1990 Constitution that required him to register as a General Elector rather than as an ethnic Fijian, on account of his Chinese father, and it was partly due to his efforts that the 1997 Constitution allows ethnic identity to follow the line of either parent.

The Constitution is clear that a person is not permitted to be registered simultaneously on more than one ethnic roll. Persons of multiracial ancestry must make a choice as to which roll to register for, although they remain free to change their registration at any time.

Section 58 establishes the required qualifications of candidates for the House of Representatives. A candidate for an "open electorate" must be registered on the Common Roll, and a candidate for a communal ethnic electorate must be registered on the roll reserved for that particular group. No person is permitted to be nominated as a candidate for more than one electorate in a particular election. Undischarged bankrupts, and people deemed to have a conflict of interest as defined by law, are disqualified from being candidates.

Sections 59 through 63 set the term of the House of Representatives at a maximum of five years. Within seven days of the expiry of the five-year term, the Prime Minister must advise the President to issue writs for a general election. In certain circumstances, elections may be called sooner; these circumstances are spelled out elsewhere in the Constitution.

If a seat in the House of Representatives becomes vacant through the death, resignation, or disqualification of the person holding it, a byelection may be ordered to fill the vacancy. If the vacancy occurs in the final six months of the Parliamentary term, however, a byelection is not to be held.

Part 3: The Senate

 * See main article: Senate of Fiji

Part 3 of Chapter 6, comprising Sections 64 through 66, establishes the Senate, or "Lower House," of the Fijian Parliament.

The number of Senators is set at 32. The term of the Senate is synchronized with that of the House of Representatives: a five-year term, or less, if the House of Representatives is dissolved sooner. Membership qualifications are the same as for the House of Representatives. Senators are officially appointed by the President, but his role is a mere formality, as Section 64 requires him to ratify the nominees of the Great Council of Chiefs (14), the Prime Minister (9), the Leader of the Opposition (8), and the Council of Rotuma (1). The Prime Minister's nominees generally come from his own political party or coalition. Except for the Prime Minister's party, the nominees of the Leader of the Opposition must represent every political party with more than 8 seats in the House of Representatives, in proportion to its total membership. Persons proposed by the Leader of the Opposition must have been selected by their respective parties, not by the Leader of the Opposition himself. If the event of the office of the Leader of the Opposition being vacant, the Prime Minister must adopt the role of the Leader of the Opposition in filling the 8 Senate seats, and must follow the same formula that would be required of the Leader of the Opposition. If a seat in the Senate becomes vacant through the death or resignation of a Senator, the vacancy is filled by the same party by which the former Senator was nominated.

The Senate had had a rather colourful history. It owed its creation and continued existence to the perceived need to balance the competing interests of Fiji's ethnic communities, as well as to accommodate Fiji's traditional chiefly power structure. To safeguard their interests, ethnic Fijians wanted a formal role for their traditional chiefs. A dominant built-in role for them was unacceptable to the Indo-Fijian community, but they were willing to accommodate the chiefly system in the framework of an "upper house," modeled on the British House of Lords. As part of the compromise of 1970, agreed upon by the main political parties representing the two major communities, a Senate was established with 22 members, with 8 nominated by the Great Council of Chiefs, 7 by the Prime Minister, 6 by the Leader of the Opposition, and 1 by the Council of Rotuma. As either the government or the opposition would almost certainly be led by an ethnic Fijian, the effect was to give the ethnic Fijian community a built-in two-thirds majority in the Senate.

After the revolution of 1987, instigated by ethnic Fijian nationalists, the Senate was expanded to 34 members. Indo-Fijians were outraged by the reservation of 24 Senate seats for nominees of the Great Council of Chiefs, giving them well over a two-thirds majority. One Senate seat was reserved, as before, for a nominee of the Council of Rotuma. A further 9 Senators were to be appointed by the President, after "consulting" with the Indo-Fijian and other communities. This extreme imbalance was one of the greatest grievances of the Indo-Fijian community, and in the constitutional review of the mid-1990s, all parties agreed to restore the 1970 model, with some changes. Reserving 14 Senate seats for nominees of the Great Council of Chiefs gave them the quota (more than a third) required to veto amendments to the constitution, while reserving seats for Government and Opposition nominees, the latter reflecting the political composition of the House of Representatives, guaranteed an acceptable, if not numerically equitable, measure of representation to Indo-Fijians and other minorities.

Interesting and perhaps significantly, the reform of the Fijian Senate coincided with, and had close parallels to, constitutional reforms in the United Kingdom which altered the composition of the House of Lords. According to reforms of the late 1990s, some 500 hereditary nobles elect 92 Lords from among themselves to exercise voting rights in the House of Lords; there are also some 600 life peers nominated by the Government and Opposition. Sir Paul Reeves, the former Governor General of New Zealand who advised Fiji's constitutional convention of the 1990s, was very familiar with the British constitutional reforms, and it is therefore not surprising that Fiji enacted reforms so similar to those of the United Kingdom. The 14 nominees of the Great Council of Chiefs correspond to the 92 Lords chosen from among the nobles, while the nominees of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition correspond to Britain's life peers (although, unlike life peers, they are term-limited).

Part 4: Both Houses
Part 4 of Chapter 6, comprising Sections 67 through 74, lays down miscellaneous rules applicable to both houses of Parliament.

Section 67 declares membership of, or nomination for, either house to be incompatible with any "public office." On being nominated for the House of Representatives or the Senate, any person holding a public office is deemed to have resigned from it. This rule does not apply, however, to Cabinet ministers or to the Leader of the Opposition - these are required to be members of Parliament.

Section 68 requires the Prime Minister to advise the President to summon Parliament to meet not later than 30 days following a general election. Other sessions are called by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister, but no more than 6 months are allowed to elapse between the end of one session and the beginning of another. Special sessions of Parliament may also be called by the President if at least 18 members of the House of Representatives request such a session in writing.

Sections 69 and 70 set out the rules for voting in both houses. To become law, a bill need a majority of the votes, plus one, of the members present in each of both houses. If the votes are equally divided, the bill is deemed to be defeated. 24 of the 71 members of the House of Representatives, and 12 of the 32 Senators, constitute a quorum; without a quorum, the session of the particular House must be adjourned at the demand of a member present. If, however, no member present at the session objects to the absence of a quorum, the particular House may continue functioning.

Sections 71 and 72 lay down the rules according to which seats in the Parliament may become vacant. A vacancy occurs with the death or resignation of a Representative or Senator. A Member of Parliament is deemed to have resigned from office in the event of the following circumstances: appointment to public office; bankruptcy; absence without permission of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, or of the President of the Senate, for 2 consecutive sessions; election or appointment to the other House of Parliament; and, in the case of members of the House of Representatives, resignation or expulsion from the political party for which he or she was elected. In the event of a judicial ruling, proceedings that may have taken place in the House of Representatives or the Senate are not invalidated if it transpires that a person's membership in that house was invalid.

Section 73 lays down the rules for the challenging of election results in court. A special court, the Court of Disputed Returns, is established for this purpose.

Section 74 deals with parliamentary proceedings. It declares English to be the official language of the Parliament, but allows members to address either House in Bau Fijian or Hindustani. Parliament must establish at least 5 standing committees; Cabinet ministers are not permitted to serve on such committees.

Part 5 Institutions and Offices
Part 5 of Chapter 6, comprising Sections 75 through 84, establishes several institutions and offices of the Parliament, or pertaining to the parliament.

Sections 75 through 77 establish the Constituency Boundaries Commission, which is empowered to determine the boundaries of electoral districts. It had three members: one nominated by the Prime Minister, one by the Leader of the Opposition, and a Chairman, chosen by the President. All three are officially appointed by the President, but his role in the appointment of the first two is a formality. In choosing the Chairperson, however, the President acts "in his or her own judgement," though he must consult both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The Chairperson must be a judge, or be qualified to be one. Persons who are or have been members of the Senate or of the House of Representatives at any time during the preceding 4 years, members of local government authorities, and civil servants are disqualified from serving on the Constituency Boundaries Commission, in order to safeguard its political impartiality.

Section 78 establishes the Electoral Commission. It is charged with voter registration, and with any other functions that may be "conferred on it by written law." It must report annually to the President concerning its activities, and a copy of the report must be submitted to each of the two Houses of Parliament.

The Electoral Commission consists of five members: a Chairperson, appointed by the President "acting in his or her own judgement," and four other members "appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister following consultation by the Prime Minister with the Leader of the Opposition." The Chairperson must be a judge, or have the required qualifications to be a judge. Members of the Senate, the House of Representatives, local government authorities, and the civil service are disqualified from membership, as are persons who are candidates for election to the House of Representatives or to any local authority.

Section 79 establishes the office of Supervisor of Elections. It is charged with organizing elections. The supervisor of elections is appointed by the Constitution Offices Commission, after consulting with the relevant Cabinet Minister, but is responsible to, and is entitled to attend the meetings of, the Electoral Commission. The supervisor of elections must be a fully qualified and registered barrister and solicitor.

All legislation pertaining to electoral matters must be presented to the Supervisor of Elections and to the Electoral Commission for comment.

Section 80 establishes the offices of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. At their first meeting following a general election, or whenever one or both of the offices may be vacant, the House of Representatives is required to elect a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker. In order to promote the impartiality of the office, the Speaker is elected from outside of Parliament. The Deputy Speaker, however, is required to be a member of the House of Representatives. The offices of Speaker and Deputy Speaker are incompatible with any other public office. Cabinet Ministers, Senators, and other public servants are disqualified.

The Speaker may be dismissed by a two-thirds vote of the House of Representatives.

Section 81 establishes the offices of President of the Senate and Vice-President of the Senate. Following a general election, and at any other time when either one of the offices may be vacant, elect from among their own members, a President and a Vice-President. These offices are incompatible with all others; Cabinet Ministers, members of the House of Representatives, and other public servants are disqualified.

Section 82 establishes the office of Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of the Opposition is appointed by the President on the basis of his opinion as to who would most likely be the most acceptable to the majority of the members of the opposition party or parties. The leader of the Opposition must be a member of the House of Representatives. The Leader of the Opposition chooses eight members of the Senate, and had the right to be consulted on a very wide range of issues. The "Opposition" is taken to be the members of all political parties in the House of Representatives, except those that support the Prime Minister.

Section 83 establishes the Parliamentary Emoluments Commission. It determines the salaries of Representatives and Senators, Cabinet Ministers, the Leader of the Opposition, and all officers of the Parliament. It had three members - a Chairperson of the Parliamentary Emoluments Commission and two other members, at least one of whom must be a fully qualified and experiences actuary or accountant. The three members of the commission are appointed by the President, on the advice of the relative standing committee in the House of Representatives.

Section 84 establishes the position of Secretary General to Parliament, and several other offices such as the Secretary to the House of Representatives and the Secretary to the Senate. The Secretary General is appointed by the Constitutional Offices Commission. The other two are appointed by the Public Services Commission (Fiji)

title: 1997 Constitution of Fiji: Chapter 6


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Gay bathhouse

A gay bathhouse, also known as a gay sauna or a gay steambath, is a public bath targeted towards gay and bisexual men. In gay slang, a bathhouse may be called just "the baths", "the sauna", or "the tubs". Historically, they have been used for sexual activity.

Bathhouses offering similar services for women are rare, but some men's bathhouses occasionally have a "lesbian" or "women only" night. Some, such as Hawks PDX, offer so-called "bisexual" nights, where anyone is welcome regardless of gender.

Bathhouses vary considerably in size and amenities—from small establishments with 10 or 20 rooms and a handful of lockers to multi-story saunas with a variety of room styles or sizes and several steam baths, hot tubs, and sometimes swimming pools. Most have a steam room (or wet sauna), dry sauna, showers, lockers, and small private rooms.

In many countries, bathhouses are "membership only" (for legal reasons); though membership is generally open to any adult who seeks it, usually after paying a small fee. Unlike brothels, customers pay only for the use of the facilities. Sexual activity, if it occurs, is not provided by staff of the establishment, but is between customers with no money exchanged. Many gay bathhouses, for legal reasons, explicitly prohibit and/or discourage prostitution and ban known prostitutes.

History
Gay saunas have become important safe locations for men to meet and explore their sexuality, according to the LGBTQ+ community. These establishments first appeared in large European cities in the early 20th century, providing undercover and remote settings for same-sex interactions at a time when homosexuality was strongly stigmatized and illegal. A tradition of public baths dates back to the 6th century BCE, and there are many ancient records of homosexual activity in Greece. In the West, gay men have been using bathhouses for sex since at least the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time when homosexual acts were illegal in most Western countries and men who were caught engaging in homosexual acts were often arrested and publicly humiliated. Men began frequenting cruising areas such as bathhouses, public parks, alleys, train and bus stations, adult theaters, public lavatories (cottages or tearooms), and gym changing rooms where they could meet other men for sex. Some bathhouse owners tried to prevent sex among patrons while others, mindful of profits or prepared to risk prosecution, overlooked discreet homosexual activity.

Early records

 * 1492 Florence
 * In Florence, Italy, in 1492 there was a purge against the "vice of sodomy". The places used for homosexual acts were taverns, baths, and casini (sheds or houses used for illicit sex and gambling). The Eight of Watch (the city's leading criminal court) issued several decrees associated with sodomy, and on April 11, 1492, it warned the managers of bathhouses to keep out "suspect boys" on penalty of a fine. In the short period from April 1492 to February 1494, it convicted 44 men for homosexual relations not involving violence or aggravating circumstances.

 * 1492 Granada
 * After the conquest of the Muslim city Granada in 1492, Queen Isabel the Catholic closed the public baths to suppress the homosexual activity they facilitated.

 * 1876 Paris
 * In France the first recorded police raid on a Parisian bathhouse was in 1876 in the Bains de Gymnase on the Rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière. Six men aged 14 to 22 were prosecuted for an "offence against public decency" and the manager and two employees for "facilitating pederasty".

 * 1903 New York
 * In the United States on February 21, 1903, New York police conducted the first recorded raid on a gay bathhouse, the Ariston Hotel Baths. 26 men were arrested, and 12 brought to trial on sodomy charges; seven men received sentences ranging from four to 20 years in prison.

Early gay bathhouses
In New York City, the Everard (nicknamed "the Everhard") was converted from a church to a bathhouse in 1888 and was patronized by gay men before the 1920s and by the 1930s had a reputation as the "classiest, safest, and best known of the baths". It was damaged by fire on May 25, 1977, when nine men died and several others were seriously injured. The Everard closed in 1986. Also popular in the 1910s were the Produce Exchange Baths and the Lafayette Baths (403–405 Lafayette Street, which from 1916 was managed by Ira & George Gershwin). American precisionist painter Charles Demuth used the Lafayette Baths as his favorite haunt. His 1918 homoerotic self-portrait set in a Victorian Turkish bath is likely to have been inspired by it. The Penn Post Baths in a hotel basement (the Penn Post Hotel, 304 West 31st Street) was a popular gay location in the 1920s despite a seedy condition and the lack of private rooms.

The American composer Charles Griffes (1884–1920) wrote in his diaries about visits to New York City bathhouses and the YMCA. His biography states: "So great was his need to be with boys, that though his home contained two pianos, he chose to practice at an instrument at the Y, and his favourite time was when the players were coming and going from their games."

"When a friend with 'little experience but great desire' confided his homosexual longings to Charles Griffes in 1916, Griffes took him to the Lafayette so that he could meet other gay men and explore his sexual interests in a supportive environment: the friend was 'astounded and fascinated' by what he saw there. The baths also encouraged more advanced forms of sexual experimentation. Griffes himself had had his first encounter with a man interested in sadomasochism at the Lafayette two years earlier (he found the man 'interesting' but the experience unappealing), and several men interviewed in the mid-1930s referred to experimenting in the baths and learning of new pleasures."

In London, the Savoy Victorian-style Turkish Baths at 92 Jermyn Street became a favorite spot (opening in 1910 and remaining open until September 1975). The journalist A.J. Langguth wrote: "...[The baths at Jermyn Street] represented a twilight arena for elderly men who came to sweat poisons from their systems and youths who came to strike beguiling poses in Turkish towels... although they were closely overseen by attendants, they provided a discreet place to inspect a young man before offering a cup of tea at Lyons." Regulars included Rock Hudson.

In the 1950s, Bermondsey's Victorian-style Turkish Baths were rated by Kenneth Williams as "quite fabulous" in his diaries. "Steambaths in the 1930s: The steambaths that had been well known to me were those of East Ham, Greenwich and Bermondsey. In the first two it was frequently possible to indulge in what the Spartacus Guide coyly describes as 'action', but behaviour at all times had to be reasonably cautious. In the Grange Road baths in Bermondsey, however, all restraint could immediately be discarded with the small towels provided to cover your nakedness.'"

Modern gay bathhouses
In the 1950s, exclusively gay bathhouses began to open in the United States. Though subject to vice raids, these bathhouses were "oases of homosexual camaraderie" and were, as they remain today, "places where it was safe to be gay", whether or not patrons themselves identified as homosexual. The gay baths offered a much safer alternative to sex in other public places.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, gay bathhouses—now primarily gay-owned and operated—became fully licensed gay establishments which soon became major gay institutions. These bathhouses served as informal gay meeting places, places where friends could meet, relax and have sex. Gay bathhouses frequently threw parties for Pride Day and were usually open, and busy, on public holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, when some gay men, particularly those who had been rejected by their families due to their sexual orientation, had nowhere else to go. The American writer Truman Capote was a regular at New York City baths in the 1970s, in particular the sauna at West 58th Street.

Another service offered by the baths was voter registration. In the run-up to the 1980 election, the New St. Mark's Baths in New York City, with the assistance of the League of Women Voters, conducted a voter registration drive on its premises.

In Australia, the first gay steam bath was opened in Sydney in 1967. This was the Bondi Junction Steam Baths at 109 Oxford Street. From 1972 through 1977 the following gay steam baths opened: Ken's Karate Klub (nicknamed "KKK"), later called Ken's at Kensington; No. 253; King Steam; Silhouette American Health Centre; Colt 107 Recreation Centre; Barefoot Boy; and Roman Bath (nicknamed "Roman Ruins"). In Melbourne the first gay bathhouse was Steamworks at 279 La Trobe Street, which opened in 1979 and closed 13 October 2008. Adelaide's Pulteney 431 is one of the oldest gay saunas in Australia still in operation, having opened its doors to Adelaide's gay community in 1977.

Gay saunas, as they are more commonly known in Australia and New Zealand, were present in most large cities in those countries by the late 1980s. As homosexuality was legalised in New Zealand and most Australian states during the 1970s and 1980s, there was no criminal conduct occurring on the premises of such "sex on site venues".

In Britain, gay saunas were routinely raided by police up until the end of the 1980s; for example, raids in May 1988 on Brownies in Streatham resulted in the establishment's owner getting a six-month jail sentence and a £5,000 fine, and the Brooklyn House Hotel sauna in Manchester). By the 1990s, with increasing scrutiny of the costs of such operations (charges of gross indecency in a sauna normally needing the expense of undercover officers), a reduced likelihood of successful prosecution, concerns of being perceived as homophobic, and little public interest in victimless crime, gay saunas became free to operate without the risk of being raided by police. Also, police attitudes meant that they were more willing to turn a blind eye because they preferred such activity to take place in a contained environment rather than outdoors even though users were still committing the homosexual sexual offence of gross indecency, until gross indecency was wiped from the statute books following the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

Bathhouses today

Gay bathhouses today continue to fill a similar function as they did historically. The community aspect has lessened in some territories, particularly where gay men increasingly tend to come out.

Some men still use bathhouses as a convenient, safe place to meet other men for sex. In areas where homosexuality is more accepted, safety may no longer be a primary attraction.

Many bathhouses are open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. There is typically a single customer entrance and exit. After paying at the main entrance, the customer is buzzed through the main door. This system allows establishments to screen potential troublemakers; many bathhouses refuse entry to those who are visibly intoxicated, as well as known prostitutes. In some areas, particularly where homosexuality is illegal, considered immoral, or viewed with hostility, this is a necessary safety precaution.

Sexual encounters at bathhouses are frequently, but not always, anonymous. Some feel that the anonymity adds to the erotic excitement: that is what, for these patrons, one goes to the bathhouse for. Bathhouse encounters sometimes lead to relationships, but usually do not. Bathhouses are still used by men who have sex with men and do not identify as gay or bisexual, including those that are closeted or in heterosexual relationships.

In many bathhouses the customer has a choice between renting a room or a locker, often for fixed periods of up to 12 hours. A room typically consists of a locker and a single bed (though doubles are sometimes available) with a thin vinyl mat supported on a simple wooden box or frame, an arrangement that facilitates easy cleaning between patrons. In many bathhouses (particularly those outside the United States), some or all of the rooms are freely available to all patrons.

Some bathhouses have areas designed to facilitate impersonal sex. These areas –rooms or hallways –are illuminated only by a (dim) red exit sign. It is possible to have sex, but not to see with whom. Other bathhouses, such as the Continental Baths in New York or the Club Baths in Washington, D.C., have two or more bunkbeds in close proximity, in a public area. This provides a place to have sex for those who could afford only a locker, and facilitated exhibitionism and voyeurism for those so inclined. Baths often have a (porn) TV room or snack bar where patrons can recuperate between orgasms.

Some men use the baths as a cheaper alternative to hotels, despite the limitations of being potentially crowded public venues with only rudimentary rooms and limited or non-existent pass out privileges. "These guys will actually call me at home or send me e-mails and we will make a date and we will meet at the baths purely because the sling is there and it's easier and we go for a beer afterwards. I use the bathhouse more as an ancient Greek, Roman social centre and also a fucking centre and a fisting centre as well, and there's a lounge where I can sit and relax with a coffee and a cigarette."

Bathhouses are not always identifiable as such from the outside. Some bathhouses are clearly marked and well lit, others have no marking other than a street address on the door. Bathhouses sometimes display the rainbow flag, which is commonly flown by businesses to identify themselves as gay-run or gay-friendly. Bathhouses commonly advertise widely in the gay press and sometimes advertise in mainstream newspapers and other media. In 2003 Australia began airing possibly the world's first television advertisements for a gay bathhouse when advertisements on commercial television in Melbourne promoted Wet on Wellington, a sauna in Wellington Street, Collingwood.

In many countries, being identified in such a sauna was still viewed by the press as scandalous. In Ireland in November 1994, the Incognito sauna made mainstream press as the gay sauna where a priest had died of a heart attack and two other priests were on hand to help out. Scott Capurro is known for his deliberately provocative comedy material and often refers to gay sexual culture including gay bathhouses.

Layout and typical amenities
On being buzzed in, the customer receives a towel (to wear, around the waist) and the key for his room or locker. The customer undresses, storing his clothing in the locker provided or room, and is then free to wander throughout the bathhouse which typically includes the amenities of a traditional bathhouse or steambath. In contrast with traditional bathhouses for bathing, the common areas of a modern gay bathhouse resemble a gym's locker room or a small lobby.

Many bathhouses also provide free condoms and lubricant. Some establishments require a piece of identification or an item of value to be left with the front desk on entry. Homosexualities emphasized the importance of a towel: "Visiting a downtown gay bath was in many ways like revisiting a high-school gym – everyone wearing the same towel, in the same color, on the same part of the body. There was no status consciousness in the social-stratification sense; the towel or loincloth created a sort of equal-status social group."

Bathhouses are often designed with imagery and/or music to create surroundings that are arousing to the visitors.

Bathhouses are usually dimly lit and play music, although an outdoors, enclosed rooftop or pool area is not uncommon. They are often laid out in a manner that allows or encourages customers to wander throughout the establishment; a space laid out in this way is often referred to as a "maze". Some bathhouses have a space where random, anonymous sex is all that can occur. These spaces—rooms, hallways, or mazes, sometimes with glory holes—have as their only illumination a (dim) red "Exit" sign, so one can have sex but one cannot see with whom. Other clubs, such as the Continental Baths or the Club Baths of Washington, D.C., would have two or more bunk beds placed near each other, in a public area, thus providing a place to have sex for those who can afford only to rent a locker, and also maximizing the chances of being watched, for the exhibitionists so inclined. Rooms are usually grouped together, as are lockers. Bathhouses are frequently decorated with posters of nude or semi-nude men, and sometimes explicit depictions of sex. It is not uncommon to see pornographic movies playing on wall-mounted televisions throughout the bathhouse. The same movies may be shown on smaller screens in the individual rooms, sometimes for an extra fee.

Most men, beyond footwear, typically just wear the towel provided. According to bathhouse etiquette, it is perfectly acceptable, even friendly, to put one's hand under someone else's towel to feel his penis, which, if well received, is the first step in sexual intimacy. Some bathhouses permit and others not only permit but encourage total nudity. In some bathhouses nudity is forbidden in the common areas of the establishments. Some men may wear underwear or fetish-wear, but it is unusual for customers to remain fully or even partially dressed in street clothes. Bare feet are frequent, though some men prefer to wear flip flops or sandals, sometimes provided by the establishment, for foot protection. The room or locker key is usually suspended from an elastic band which can be worn around the wrist or ankle. Some bathhouses require customers to purchase yearly memberships and many offer special entry rates to members, students, military, or other groups. In some countries, bathhouses can restrict entrance to men of certain age ranges (apart from the general requirement of being an adult) or physical types, although in other places this would be considered illegal discrimination. Some bathhouses hold occasional "leather", "underwear", or other theme nights.

In the 1970s bathhouses began to install "fantasy environments" which simulated erotic situations that would be illegal or dangerous in reality:

"Orgy rooms encouraged group sex, while glory holes recreated (public) toilets, and mazes took the place of bushes and undergrowth (in public parks). Steam rooms and gyms were reminiscent of the cruisy YMCAs, while video rooms recreated the balconies and back rows of movie theaters. A popular Chicago bathhouse called Man's Country provided a full-size model of an Everlast truck where visitors could have sex in the cab or in the rear, which served as an orgy room Man's Country also offered a [...] fake prison cell made of rubber bars."

Many bathhouses sell food and drinks, cigarettes, pornography, sex toys, lubricants, and toiletries. Some bathhouses also provide non-sexual services such as massage and reflexology.

Etiquette
Customers typically divide their time between the showers, saunas, and hot tub area and the main areas of the establishment. Customers who have rented rooms have free access to their room.

Customers who have rooms may leave their room doors open to signal that they are available for sex. An open door can also be an invitation for others to watch or join in sexual activity that is already occurring.

When a room is occupied only by a single person, some men will position themselves to suggest what they might like from someone joining them in the room: those who would like to be penetrated anally ("bottoms") will sometimes lie face down on the bed with the door open, while those who prefer to penetrate others ("tops") or to receive fellatio might lie face up.

In the past, the baths served as community spaces for gay men. Even now, some men choose to go to the baths with their friends (even though they may not necessarily have sex with each other). While many men talk to each other at the baths, even forming long-lasting friendships or relationships, many others do not, preferring, for various reasons, anonymity. "But I've been to a sauna recently in New Zealand, where everyone just chatted away, which I found very strange. Um, but you know, that's because I guess it was a smaller city and people generally knew each other."

In this highly sexualized environment a look or nod is frequently enough to express interest. In darkened areas of the establishment including the mazes, video rooms, group sex areas, and the saunas or hot tubs (but not generally in the showers, toilets, hallways, gyms, café areas, and lounges), men are usually free to touch other patrons; it is expected, and often welcomed. A shake of the head, or pushing away the other's hand, means that the attention is not welcomed. "I normally find people with groping don't go away. You really have to as they grope your crotch area grab their hand and push it away and there have been times when I've had to do that three, two or three or four times before they actually get the message. There's also been times when I actually just had to say to them to fuck off."

Some establishments allow or encourage sex in specific group sex areas. In some jurisdictions such activity is prohibited, and sex must be confined to private rooms. Some forbid sex in pools for hygiene reasons. In the United Kingdom, the requirement is often set by the local authority's Environmental Health department.

Sexually transmitted diseases
From the mid-1980s onward there was lobbying against gay bathhouses blaming them for being a focus of infection encouraging the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), in particular HIV, and this forced their closure in some jurisdictions (see Legal issues, below).

In some countries, fears about the spread of STDs have prompted the closing of bathhouses—with their private rooms—in favor of sex clubs, in which all sexual activity takes place in the open, and can be observed by monitors whose job it is to enforce safe-sex practices. However, proponents of bathhouses point out that closing these facilities does not prevent people from engaging in unsafe sex.

Neither the claim that bathhouses are responsible for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, nor the claim that they are not, has been conclusively proved, but it is known that STDs are spread via unprotected sex, and as part of their membership agreement, or as a condition of entry, some bathhouses now require customers to affirm in writing that they will only practice safe sex on the premises, and venues frequently provide free condoms, latex gloves, and lubrication (and/or have them available for purchase). In New Zealand and Australia, the New Zealand AIDS Foundation and constituent members of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organizations provide safe sex information for sex on site venue users.

Some anti-bathhouse activists argue that these measures are not enough, especially given that it is virtually impossible to monitor sexual activity in a bathhouse; however, while they acknowledge that closing gay bathhouses may force some men into unsafe or illegal situations in public parks and lavatories, they point out that they may be less likely to engage in anal or multipartner sex—both of which put participants at risk for contracting STDs—in such situations.

Others counter these claims by pointing out that bathhouses are a major source of safer sex information—they provide pamphlets and post safer sex posters prominently (often on the walls of each room as well as in the common areas), provide free condoms and lubricants, and often require patrons to affirm that they will only have safer sex on the premises. In cities with larger gay populations, STD and HIV testing and counseling may be offered on-site for no charge.

Drugs and alcohol
In some countries, bathhouses are prohibited from selling alcohol. (In Canada, where some bathhouses serve alcohol, a bathhouse holding a liquor license may be required to submit to liquor inspections, which activists claim are often a pretext for regulating gay sexual activity.) Many bathhouses deny entry to those who are visibly intoxicated but do not—or cannot—regulate the consumption of drugs (typically marijuana, poppers, ecstasy, cocaine, and crystal meth) by their patrons. The use of drugs and alcohol may make people more likely to engage in unsafe sex. Sex clubs with no private areas may find it easier to regulate the consumption of drugs on their premises.

The use of crystal meth is also known to lead to riskier sexual behavior, but since gay crystal meth users tend to seek out other users to engage in sexual activity, they often prefer to make such arrangements via the internet.

Prostitution
In some countries straight and gay bathhouses are used by rent boys to find customers by offering massage services, the "complete service" is often used as a euphemism for sex. "All interviewees were asked whether or not they used condoms, and all with the exception of Fabian, said they used them when having penetrative sex with clients. For fellatio, sometimes they used condoms and sometimes not For him (Fabian), it was all the same whether he used a condom or not. He also talked about the drugs he had taken, pure alcohol, crack cocaine, and 'sometimes I inject, maybe 15times I've injected, crystal, cocaine and sometimes heroin'."

Canada

 * Toronto bathhouse raids of 1981

 * On February 5, 1981, 150 police raided four gay bathhouses in Toronto, Ontario: the Club Baths, the Romans II Health and Recreation Spa, the Richmond Street Health Emporium, and The Barracks. The Richmond Health Emporium was so badly damaged in the raid that it never reopened. Nicknamed Operation Soap, the raid resulted in the arrests of 268 men. There was an immediate and angry response from both the gay and lesbian community and over 3,000 people gathered in protest. A second demonstration which took place on February 20, included over 4,000 people who gathered at Queen's Park and marched to Metro Toronto Police's 52 Division.

 * Raid on Toronto Women's Bathhouse
 * In 2000, Toronto police raided a women's night at a bathhouse called Club Toronto. Police, almost all of them male, entered the establishment and walked around, taking the names and addresses of some 10 women and "aggressively questioned" volunteers. A Pussy Palace organizer stated "[m]any women at the event were deeply angered and traumatized". A judge of the Ontario Court of Justice held that the police had violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by using male police officers in the raid, describing the police actions as analogous to a strip search.

 * Raid on Goliath's
 * In December 2002, Calgary police raided Goliath's resulting in charges against 19 men. Fifteen men were arrested in the raid. Thirteen customers were charged as "found-ins" (found in a common bawdy house without a legal excuse) and two staff members were charged with the more serious offense of keeping a common bawdy house. The customers faced up to two years in prison. In addition, the owners of the bathhouse and a third staff member were later charged with keeping a common bawdy house.

 * On May 27, 2004, a judge ruled that the police had reasonable justification to raid Goliath's. Defense lawyers countered that none of the anonymous information the police acted upon –for example that live sex shows were being staged and drugs sold on the premises –featured in the charges made against the seventeen men. They also pointed out that the police failed to call in the force's gay community liaison officer. Goliath's reopened a little more than a month after the raid.

 * In November 2004, the Crown stayed the found-in charge against the last remaining patron, saying it was no longer in the public interest to pursue the case. The case against the owners and managers of Goliath's, however, was expected to come to trial in February 2005. Terry Haldane, the only "found-in" patron who was actively fighting the charge against him, accused the Crown of dropping the charge because Haldane and his lawyers had given notice of their plan to challenge the bawdy house law all the way to the Supreme Court.

 * In February 2005, all remaining charges in the case were dropped. The court cited a lack of community support and evidence (from a poll) that the community supported the existence of gay bathhouses by a small margin.

 * Raid on Hamilton's Warehouse Spa
 * On August 3, 2004, Hamilton's Warehouse Spa and Bath was "inspected" by a task force of officers from the police, public health, the city's building and licensing department, the fire department, and the alcohol and gaming commission. Two men were arrested and charged with committing indecent acts.

United States
In California the "Consenting Adult Sex Bill", passed in January 1976, made gay bathhouses and the sex that took place within them legal for the first time. During the 1970s, the two most popular gay bathhouses in San Francisco, both located in the SOMA neighborhood, were the Ritch Street Health Club at 330 Ritch St., the interior of which was designed like a Minoan palace, and The Barracks, a BDSM bathhouse at 72 Hallam near Folsom in which each room was designed to accommodate a different BDSM sexual fantasy. In 1978, a group of police officers raided the Liberty Baths in the Polk Gulch neighborhood of San Francisco and arrested three patrons for "lewd conduct in a public place", but the District Attorney's office soon dropped the charges against them. In 1984, however, fear of AIDS caused the San Francisco Health department, with the support of some gay activists such as Randy Shilts, and against the opposition of other gay activists, to ask the courts to close gay bathhouses in the city. The court, under Judge Roy Wonder, instead issued a court order that limited sexual practices and disallowed renting of private rooms in bathhouses, so that sexual activity could be monitored, as a public health measure. Some of the bathhouses tried to live within the strict rules of this court order, but many of them felt they could not easily do business under the new rules and closed. Eventually, the few remaining actual bathhouses succumbed to either economic pressures or the continuing legal pressures of the city and finally closed. Several sex clubs, which were not officially bathhouses, continued to operate indefinitely and operate to this day, though following strict rules under court order and city regulations. Bathhouses themselves, however, operate just outside the city, thus outside of their laws, such as in Berkeley and San Jose.

In 1985, the New York City Health Department ordered that the city's gay bathhouses be closed. As a result, heterosexual sex clubs such as Plato's Retreat had to shut down as well because the city had just passed a gay rights ordinance, and allowing the heterosexual clubs to remain open while closing the gay establishments would have been a violation of that ordinance.

Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Seattle, Berkeley, San Jose, Cleveland, Portland, Reno, Las Vegas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Miami and Fort Lauderdale are some American cities that have bathhouses in operation.

On October 8, 2010, ten patrons and one employee were arrested during a police raid at Club Dallas in Texas. The patrons were charged with either public lewdness or indecent exposure while the employee was charged with interfering with the police. The Dallas Police Department's liaison to the gay community stated that their actions were in response to a complaint.

China
In March 2008, a series of police raids in gay bathhouses and at gay meeting spots in Beijing have resulted in arrests and bathhouse closures. This included raids on two branches of the Oasis bathhouses, known to be the most popular in Beijing. In 2000, police arrested 37 men in a Guangzhou gay spa on charges of prostitution. Homosexuality was legalised in China in 1997.

Germany, Austria and Switzerland
The German-speaking countries have many gay bathhouses (schwule Saunas) since homosexuality had been legalized in 1969 (and later). The oldest ones are the Hotel Deutsche Eiche (German Oak) in Munich, the Vulcan-Sauna in Hanover and Kaiserbründ in Vienna.

Sweden
During the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, the Swedish government in 1987 banned gay saunas (bastuklubb), by amending the country's public health law, the Infections Protection Act under the law known informally as the Bastuklubbslagen (SFS 1987:375). The aim was to stop the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. The law was criticised by noted gay rights organisation RSFL. Gay saunas were re-legalised on the 1 July 2004 due to a revision of law. The first gay sauna to be opened since the law was repealed was Klubb Vegas in Stockholm in April 2005.

Notable patrons

 * Truman Capote
 * Gay author Truman Capote wrote about his visits to the Everard Baths.

 * Andrew Cunanan
 * Andrew Cunanan's membership card to the West Side Club NYC was recovered in Miami Beach close to where he killed designer Gianni Versace. It is not known if Cunanan visited the bathhouse during his murder spree or at some other time. Other receipts indicated he had visited New York in early May 1997 between the murder of Chicago developer Lee Miglin and Finn's Point National Cemetery caretaker William Reese.

 * Justin Fashanu
 * The first openly gay British footballer Justin Fashanu (1961–1998) spent his last night in Chariots Roman Spa. His suicide was due to press reports that the US authorities were planning to extradite him and charge him with sexual assault (there was in fact no warrant). His suicide note claimed that the sexual encounter had been consensual and that the youth contacted police only after Fashanu refused to pay him blackmail.

 * Michel Foucault
 * The influential 20th-century French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926–1984) visited bathhouses in California in the 1970s and early 1980s, and the Mineshaft in New York. He died of AIDS-related causes in 1984.

 * Jack Fritscher
 * Gay erotic author and editor Jack Fritscher (born 1939) made hundreds of visits to the Mineshaft (a bathhouse without the bath).

 * Andrew Holleran
 * Andrew Holleran (born 1943) has written both essays and fiction about his experiences at the baths. The fatal May 25, 1977 fire at the Everard Baths in New York is a crucial event in his novel Dancer from the Dance (1978). Edmund White recalls, "I used to see him years ago at the gay baths. But he wouldn't be having sex; he would just observe."

 * Mikhail Kuzmin
 * Russian poet, novelist and composer Mikhail Kuzmin (1872–1936) is known to have patronized bathhouses. Some of the bathhouses in St. Petersburg at the time became known as friendly to gay men and provided "attendants", who might provide sexual services for a fee. In his diary, Kuzmin writes of one bathhouse visit: "the evening I had the urge to go to a bathhouse simply to be stylish, for the fun of it, for cleanliness."

 * Harvey Milk
 * The openly gay American politician Harvey Milk (1930–1978) vowed to stop visiting gay bathhouses when he ran for supervisor in 1975.

 * Rudolf Nureyev
 * The Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev (1938–1993) was known to frequent the baths in New York. He did not get past the door of the Mineshaft.

 * Ned Rorem
 * The composer Ned Rorem (1923-2022) wrote of his visits to the Everard Baths.

 * Edmund White
 * Novelist Edmund White acknowledges visits to the baths in New York (where he would see Andrew Holleran).

 * Gore Vidal
 * Bisexual author Gore Vidal (1925–2012) is a documented patron of the Everard Baths.

Celebrities and the Continental Baths
Singer Bette Midler is well known for getting her start at the famous Continental Baths in New York City in the early 1970s, where she earned the nickname Bathhouse Betty. It was there, accompanied by pianist Barry Manilow (who, like the bathhouse patrons, sometimes wore only a white towel ), that she created her stage persona "the Divine Miss M". On getting her start in bathhouses, Midler has remarked: "Despite the way things turned out [with the AIDS crisis], I'm still proud of those days [when I got my start singing at the gay bathhouses]. I feel like I was at the forefront of the gay liberation movement, and I hope I did my part to help it move forward. So, I kind of wear the label of 'Bathhouse Betty' with pride."

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Gay bathhouse


text:
Room Service (Roxette album)

Room Service is the seventh studio album by Swedish pop duo Roxette, released worldwide from 2 April 2001. A planned release in the United States failed to materialise, as the duo's label there, Edel Records America, had been disbanded the previous month due to financial difficulties. Marie Fredriksson was not as involved in the album's production as she had been on previous records, taking part in the composition of just two songs. The album was remastered and reissued with bonus tracks in 2009.

Three singles were released from the record: lead single "The Centre of the Heart" was a hit throughout Europe, and was Roxette's third number one single in their home country. "Real Sugar" underperformed; it remains the lowest-peaking of all their charting singles in both Germany and Switzerland. Conversely, "Milk and Toast and Honey" performed well, and was the album's longest-charting hit in Sweden and Switzerland. The latter was also the only single from the album to be released in the United Kingdom.

The album received mixed reviews upon release. AllMusic called it an "exciting, immediate, high-gloss pop gem that contains very little filler indeed", although other publications were critical of Per Gessle's lyrics, particularly to album track "Jefferson". The record performed well commercially throughout mainland Europe, and was one of the best-selling albums of the year in several territories, but was largely ignored in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number 120.

Production
Room Service is a shorter effort than preceding album, 1999's Have a Nice Day. The duo decided against touring in support of that release, with Per Gessle opting instead to immediately focus on recording demos for a follow-up album at his Tits & Ass recording studio in Halmstad in April 1999. He eventually demoed a total of 29 songs for Room Service, excluding songs written by Marie Fredriksson, or songs originally demoed for Have a Nice Day, such as "The Centre of the Heart". That song was first recorded in October 1997, and is the only track on Room Service to feature a production credit from Have a Nice Day co-producer Michael Ilbert.

Fredriksson was not as involved in the production of Room Service as she had been on previous records; she composed just two songs for the album: "Little Girl" and "Every Day". This is in stark contrast to Have a Nice Day—she composed ten songs for that record. In a 2009 interview with Swedish publication Filter, when asked about the possibility of working with Fredriksson again following her brain tumour diagnosis in 2002, Gessle responded: "This is difficult to say, but when I think about the [Room Service] sessions, she was obviously not too interested in Roxette [in] the years before she got sick."

"Little Girl" is Fredriksson's only contribution to the album. It was written and composed solely by her, while "Every Day" was co-written with Gessle. The latter song was also released on deluxe editions of The Ballad Hits in 2002, as well as The Rox Box/Roxette 86–06. It later appeared as a bonus track when Room Service was remastered and reissued in 2009, along with another Fredriksson-composed track, "All I Ever Wanted". Despite this, "All I Ever Wanted" is unrelated to the album: it had first been demoed in April 1997 and re-recorded in June 2004 during sessions for Fredriksson's first English-language solo album, 2004's The Change.

Release and promotion
"The Centre of the Heart" was released as the lead single, and its music video was directed by longtime collaborator Jonas Åkerlund. Filmed over three days at The Madonna Inn in California, it is Roxette's most expensive music video, surpassing the budget of "Spending My Time" from their 1991 album Joyride. The song was sent to radio on 19 February 2001, with a commercial single release following a month later. It went on to spend four weeks at number one in Sweden, making it their third number one single in their home country. The album was released worldwide from 2 April, with a North American release set for the following day via Edel America Records. A United States release failed to materialise, as Edel America was disbanded in March 2001 due to financial difficulties, although the record was released in Canada through EMI Music.

Photography for the record sleeve was shot at The Madonna Inn and was created by Tempel, a design duo consisting of Åkerlund and photographer Sarah Sheppard. "Real Sugar" was released as the album's second single throughout Europe. It peaked at number 12 in Spain and number 23 in Sweden, but it performed poorly elsewhere, charting only in Germany and Switzerland and becoming their lowest-charting single to date in both territories (numbers 96 and 72, respectively). The third and final single from the album, "Milk and Toast and Honey", was more successful, peaking at number 21 in Sweden and becoming their longest-charting single in the country since "You Don't Understand Me" in 1995 (14 weeks). Similarly, it peaked at number 29 on the Swiss Hitparade and spent 17 weeks on the chart—their longest-charting single in that country since "Sleeping in My Car" in 1994. It was also the first and only single from Room Service to be released in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number 89.

The "Room Service World Tour" was Roxette's first concert tour in over six years. Concerts planned in South Africa were cancelled after the September 11 attacks. The tour began on 28 September and saw them performing in Spain, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Russia, Estonia, Finland and Sweden over its 25-dates. On reviewing one of their concerts, Per Bjurman from Aftonbladet was critical of the duo's chosen playlist and suggested that they had become too stuck in their past glories. Johan Lindqvist from Göteborgs-Posten was more positive, scoring their concert in Munich four stars.

Critical reception
Room Service received a mixed response from critics. Leslie Mathew of AllMusic said it was their best album since Joyride (1991), calling it an "exciting, immediate, high-gloss pop gem that contains very little filler indeed." Chili Paddy from MTV Asia also praised the album, and said it contained several potential hit singles. Fred Bronson from Billboard rated it the 7th best album of the year. Bjurman from Aftonbladet put it bluntly: "[Room Service] is not very good", elaborating: "Many songs sound like covers of old Roxette material. Perhaps inevitable when a band returns to its 'roots', but a little more imagination may be required." However, he did praise the three singles, calling "Milk and Toast and Honey" their "strongest ballad since 'It Must Have Been Love' or maybe even 'Listen to Your Heart'," before ending his review with "Roxette is not finished. But soon, I suspect."

The first verse of album track "Jefferson" was heavily criticised by English-language reviewers. Simon P. Ward from Yahoo! Music said he laughed "uncontrollably at that lyrical gem"; Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian called it "one of the worst first verses in history" and said of the entire album: "Fredriksson's vocals are compelling yet curiously unengaged as she tries to negotiate Per Gessle's lyrics." Ward additionally noted that "Make My Head Go Pop" has "everything and the kitchen sink thrown into it—keyboards, techno beats, the guitar riff from the Stones' 'Satisfaction', and strings." Anders Nunstedt from Expressen initially gave the album a positive review, rating it three stars out of five and praising Gessle's songwriting and Clarence Öfwerman's production. However, in recent years, he has given a more critical overview of the album. Speaking of Room Service in relation to Roxette's other studio albums, he called it "Outdated, unattractive and also relatively unmusical." He also hypothesized: "On Have a Nice Day, you heard a band that had lost its compass. You do not have to listen carefully to Room Service to hear the sound of a duo who had been lost in the woods for so long that the search had ended."

Commercial performance
The album was not as successful as the duo's preceding studio albums, and was largely ignored in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 120 there. Per Gessle commented in 2009: "Of course, it's hard to stay on top of the world forever. I'm old-fashioned, in that I believe it's enough to have a fantastic song and it will become a hit and then you can be on top again. Joyride sold 11 million copies, Look Sharp! 9 million, which means there are a lot of people who know who we are and who might be interested in what we are still doing. But it's normal for some albums to sell less than others, like Have a Nice Day. 'We'll sell more next time', I thought, but then Room Service did even worse. I don't know why."

Room Service peaked at number three on Billboard's European Albums, and at number two on CNN's WorldBeat Albums. It topped the national record charts in both Belgium and Sweden, and peaked at number two in Switzerland, number three in Germany, number four in Austria, number five in Greece and Spain,  number seven in Norway, number eight in Poland, and number ten in Finland. It performed particularly well in Scandinavian territories, ending 2001 as one of the top fifteen best-selling albums of the year in Finland (tenth), Sweden (twelfth), and Norway (fourteenth). It sold well throughout central Europe. It was the 34th best-selling album of the year in Germany, the 42nd best-selling album in Belgium, and the 46th best-selling album in Switzerland. It was also certified either gold or platinum in many of these countries.

Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Room Service.

 * Roxette are Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson
 * Recorded at Atlantis Studios and Polar Studios in Stockholm between January 2000 and January 2001.
 * Mastered by Chris Blair at Abbey Road Studios, London
 * Remastered by Alar Suurna at Polar Studios, Stockholm (2009 reissue)

Musicians
 * Marie Fredriksson – lead and background vocals, percussion, production and sleeve design
 * Per Gessle – lead and background vocals, acoustic guitar, 12-stringed acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo, keyboards, percussion, programming, production, mixing and sleeve design
 * Jonas Isacsson – acoustic guitar, 6-stringed and 12-stringed electric guitars and E-Bow
 * Christer Jansson – live drums and electronic drum loops; percussion (cymbal, maracas, tambourine, timpani and handclaps)
 * Christoffer Lundquist – backing vocals, bass guitar, electric guitar, 6-stringed and 12-stringed acoustic guitars, zither and percussion
 * Clarence Öfwerman – keyboards, percussion, programming, engineering, production and mixing
 * Mats "MP" Persson – electric guitar, tremolo guitar, keyboards, synth bass, programming and engineering
 * Shooting Star – programming

Additional musicians and technical personnel
 * Jonas Åkerlund – photography and art direction
 * Micke "Nord" Andersson – acoustic guitar (track 7)
 * David Birde – electric guitar (track 4)
 * Mikael Bolyos – engineering (track 5)
 * Marie Dimberg – management
 * Mats Holmquist – conducting (tracks 2, 3 and 12)
 * Michael Ilbert – engineering and co-production (track 2)
 * Ronny Lahti – engineering and mixing
 * Sarah Sheppard – photography and art direction
 * Stockholm Session Strings – strings (tracks 2, 3 and 12)
 * Mattias Torell – acoustic guitar (track 5)

title: Room Service (Roxette album)


text:
1997 Constitution of Fiji: Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Executive Government. Chapter 7 of the 1997 Constitution is titled Executive Government.  There are five Parts, further subdivided into thirty sections, which set out the organization, functions, and responsibilities of the executive branch of government. Modeled on the Westminster system, Fiji's constitution does not separate the Executive and Legislative branches of government as strictly as do many democracies, but despite considerable overlap, the branches of government are nevertheless constitutionally distinct.

Part 1 Executive Authority
Part 1 of Chapter 7, comprising Sections 85 through 88, establishes the offices of President and Vice-President and briefly summarizes their functions and responsibilities, on which the remainder of the chapter elaborates.

Sections 85 through 87 declare the President to be Fiji's Head of State, in whom executive authority is "vested." Later sections reveal this authority to be largely, though not entirely, symbolic. The President is further declared to be the symbol of the unity of the State, and the Commander-in-Chief of the military forces.

Section 88 establishes the office of Vice-President, who is empowered to take over the functions of the President in the event of the President being absent or otherwise unable to carry out his duties. If the President and Vice-President are both unable to perform Presidential duties, the Speaker of the House of Representatives may carry out the necessary functions.

In the event of the death, resignation, or incapacitation of the President, a new President and Vice-President must be appointed within three months. The Vice-President is authorized to exercise the functions of the presidency while the office is vacant. The Vice-President may be a candidate to fill the vacancy, but does not automatically succeed to it. This stipulation is designed to remove any vested interest a disloyal Vice-President might potentially have of producing a vacancy in the Presidency.

In practice, on the two occasions that the Presidency has fallen vacant (as of September 2004), the Vice-President has, after performing the President's functions in an interim capacity, been duly appointed to fill the vacancy. Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau died in 1993 and was succeeded by his Vice-President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. Mara was deposed in the Fiji coup of 2000, but after the Constitution was restored and Mara declined reappointment, his Vice-President, Josefa Iloilo was appointed to succeed him.

Part 2 President and Vice-President
Part 2 of Chapter 7, comprising Sections 89 through 95, sets out the qualifications, manner of election, and formula for removal of the President and Vice-President, and miscellaneous rules relating to the institution of the two offices.

Sections 89 through 91 stipulate that the President and Vice-President shall be appointed by the Great Council of Chiefs "after consultation with the Prime Minister." It is not clear whether or not this clause gives the Prime Minister a veto. It has never been tested.

The President and Vice-President are required to be Fijian citizens who have had a distinguished career in any aspect of national or international life, whether in the public or private sectors, and must meet the qualifications required of candidates for the House of Representatives. The offices of President and Vice-President are incompatible with any other offices; appointment to either position automatically terminates one's service in whatever other office he or she might be serving in at the time. The term of office is five years, renewable once.

Section 92 provides for the replacement of the Vice-President in the event of the office becoming vacant. The President nominates another person to complete the unexpired term of the Vice-President, subject to the approval of the Great Council of Chiefs.

Section 93 authorizes the Great Council of Chiefs to remove the President or Vice-President from office for "infirmity of body or mind... or for misbehaviour." This is not an easy process, however. First, the Prime Minister must notify the Chief Justice that he considers the President or Vice-President unable to carry out his duties or unfit to remain in office. In the event of alleged physical or mental infirmity, the Chief Justice is required to establish a medical board consisting of three qualified medical practitioners; in the event of alleged treason, felony, bribery, or other misbehaviour, a tribunal of three persons, each of whom is eligible to be a judge, is to be appointed. After makings thorough investigation, the medical board or tribunal is to present its findings to the Great Council of Chiefs, whose decision is final.

Section 94 requires that the President and Vice-President must take the Oath of Allegiance and the oaths relating to their respective offices; these are set out later in the Constitution. The oaths are to be administered by the Chief Justice.

The authorizing of only one person (namely, the Chief Justice) is designed to forestall legal recognition of any Presidential or Vice-Presidential oath administered illegally, as happened in the 2000 coup, when Ratu Jope Seniloli (an accomplice of the coup's chief instigator, George Speight) was administered the Presidential oath of office by someone other than the Chief Justice. On 6 August 2004, he was convicted of treason for swearing an unconstitutional oath.

Section 96 allows the Parliament to make laws, subject to the Constitution, "relating to the appointment, the terms and conditions of office, including pension entitlements, and the procedures for removal, of the President and Vice-President."

Part 3 Cabinet Government
.

Part 3 of Chapter 7, comprising Sections 97 through 109, establishes the Cabinet as the effective government of Fiji. This follows Westminster practice: in the Cabinet, collectively, makes executive decisions and its members exercise executive authority in the name of the President.

Section 96 curtails the power of the President to act independently. In the exercise of powers, the President is to act "only on the advice of the Cabinet or a Minister or of some other body or authority prescribed by this Constitution." The Constitution does, however, go on to specify a few carefully defined exceptions to this rule.

Sections 97 through 99 declare that governments (namely, Cabinets) must have the confidence of the House of Representatives. The appointment of the Prime Minister is one of the few areas in which the President is authorized to exercise "his or her own judgement". This is immediately qualified, however: the person the President chooses must be "the member of the House of Representatives who, in the President's opinion, can form a government that has the confidence of the House of Representatives." Significantly, the clause states, not "a" member but "the" member, therefore assuming that in the normal course of events, there will be only one such candidate. In the Westminster model, this is assumed to be the leader of the political party or coalition holding a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. In cases where no legislative majority exists, however, due to party splits (as happened in 1992) or to electoral fragmentation, the President must exercise personal discretion and appoint as Prime Minister the person he or she considers most likely hold the confidence of the House of Representatives.

The Cabinet, whose members must also be members of either the House of Representatives or the Senate, is to be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Cabinet must reflect the composition of the House of Representatives: every political party with eight or more seats in the House is entitled, if willing, to a proportionate number of positions in the Cabinet. If the Prime Minister wishes to include ministers from a political party or parties holding fewer than eight seats, the appointments must be at the expense of his own party, not other parties entitled to cabinet representation. In selecting minister from political parties other than his own, the Prime Minister is to consult with the leaders of those parties.

The provision for a multiparty cabinet was a departure from the usual Westminster model, which Fiji had previously followed. As political parties in Fiji have in practice represented mostly ethnic rather than ideological interests, elections tended to result in a government with little representation from outside of its ethnic power base. The Mara government (1967-1987) was supported mostly by ethnic Fijians and minority groups, but never succeeded in attracting more than a quarter of the Indo-Fijian vote. The Bavadra government, which took office following the 1987 election, was supported by no more than 9% of the ethnic Fijian electorate, although Prime Minister Bavadra was himself an ethnic Fijian. Cabinets, always drawn from the caucus of the governing party, therefore tended to be ethnically lopsided, which aroused resentment among the ethnic groups that were underrepresented. This was a leading factor in the 1987 coup: the election of the Bavadra government, which included only four ethnic Fijian ministers, had provoked a month of increasingly disorderly protests which culminated in the coup led by Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka. The 1997 constitutional convention decided that a multiparty cabinet would be the best way of ensuring representation of all ethnic communities, as well as of encouraging cooperation among their leaders. The concept of a Consociational state was regarded as the ideal to work for.

The constitutional convention that decided on the multiparty cabinet model coincided with a similar series of negotiations that were taking place in Northern Ireland, which culminated in the Good Friday Agreement providing, among other things, for a power-sharing Executive in which all significant willing parties were to be represented, in order to ensure the representation at Executive level of Catholic, as well as Protestant, parties. Fiji's decision to follow a similar course was another reflection of its faith in British constitutional models: while the standard Westminster cabinet model was rejected as unsuited to local conditions, alternative models rooted in British practice were studied, and one was adopted.

In practice, this constitutional requirement for a multiparty cabinet has never been strictly observed. After the 1999 election, Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry refused to include his defeated foes, the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei, in his Cabinet, despite its holding of eight seats in the House of Representatives. Following the 2001 election, Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase found pretexts for excluding the Labour Party from the Cabinet, even though it had won 28 seats, almost four times more than the constitutional requirement for automatic inclusion in the Cabinet. Court cases followed, and on 18 July 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that the exclusion of the Labour Party was unconstitutional and demanded that the situation be rectified. Negotiations, appeals, and counter-appeals stalled the resolution of the dispute, and a subsequent Supreme Court ruling in June 2004 held that the Labour Party was entitled to 14 out of 30 cabinet positions. Qarase announced that he would abide by the verdict, but his continuing refusal to include Chaudhry himself in the Cabinet has prolonged the dispute. As of September 2004, the matter is far from resolved.

Section 100 establishes the office of the Attorney-General, who is the chief legal adviser to the government. Although a member of the Cabinet, the Attorney-General's office is the only Cabinet position, apart from that of the Prime Minister, to be mentioned specifically in the Constitution. This position differs from other Cabinet posts in several important ways. Unlike other Cabinet ministers, who are not required to have any particular educational qualifications, the Attorney-General, or any person acting in that capacity, must be a barrister and solicitor qualified and registered to practice law in Fiji. The Attorney-General is also the only member of the Cabinet who, although a member of one house of Parliament, may attend and participate in the proceedings of (but not vote in) the other house. In the event of the Attorney-General's absence, their responsibilities may be taken over by another minister or member of Parliament, who must meet the qualifications for Attorney-General, or by the Solicitor-General.

'Sections 101 through 106 set out the responsibilities and functions of Cabinet ministers. Ministers may have whatever functions, titles, and responsibilities the Prime Minister may determine, and are responsible for one or more branches of government. Any part of government business not specifically assigned to a particular minister is the responsibility of the Prime Minister. All ministers are individually and collectively responsible to, and must hold the confidence of, the House of Representatives.

A Minister must take the Oath of Allegiance and the oath of office, set out in a later section of the constitution, before the President. The taking of such an oath before anyone other than the lawful President, or someone authorized to act on his behalf, constitutes an act of treason, and on 6 August 2004 several defendants, including Ratu Rakuita Vakalalabure (the current Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives), were convicted of treason for having taken an illegal oath of office during the 2000 coup. (They had been sworn in by Ratu Seniloli).

Section 104 requires the Prime Minister to keep the President "generally informed about issues relating to the governance of Fiji." In addition, the Prime Minister must supply whatever specific information the President may ask for.

Section 105 specifies the circumstances in which a minister may leave office. Except in the case of the expiry or dissolution of the House of Representatives, in which case all ministers remain in office pending the appointment of a new cabinet, a minister may leave office by resignation either from the office itself or from the Parliament, membership of which is a prerequisite for membership of the Cabinet. In the event of the dismissal or resignation of the Prime Minister, the tenure of all other ministers is automatically terminated.

Section 106 provides for the appointment of "Acting Ministers" to take over the functions of any minister on an interim basis, in the event of the minister being unable to carry out their duties on account of sickness, absence from Fiji, or any other case. The appointment of an Acting Minister must be published in the government's official Gazette.

Sections 107 through 109 specify the rules for the transfer of authority from one government to another, for the organizing of premature parliamentary elections, and for dismissal of a Prime Minister. If the government is defeated in a general election, the Prime Minister must resign. If the government is defeated in a vote of no confidence in the House of Representatives (as happened in 1994), or if the House rejects "A bill appropriating revenue or moneys for the ordinary services of the Government," the Prime Minister must advise the President on whether there is another person who can command a legislative majority, and if so, resign in that person's favour.

Alternatively, the Prime Minister may advise the President to dissolve the House of Representatives and order a premature election. The President must first ascertain whether there is in fact no person able to hold the confidence of the incumbent House of Representatives, and may grant the Prime Minister's request for a dissolution only if no such person is found. Otherwise, the President is to dismiss the Prime Minister and appoint the alternate Prime Minister. If the latter subsequently fails to win a vote of confidence in the House, "the President must dismiss him or her, re-appoint the predecessor and grant that person the dissolution originally advised."'

The President is not allowed to dismiss the Prime Minister except in the event the failure of the government to win a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives. The Constitution is silent on the matter of what should be done in the event of the Prime Minister being unable to perform their duties. This happened during the 2000 coup, when Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry was kidnapped and held hostage by gunmen working for the chief insurrectionist, George Speight. In captivity, Chaudhry was unable to carry out his duty of rendering the President advice, without which the President could not lawfully assume the emergency powers he believed he needed to deal with the crisis. Faced with a constitutional dilemma, President Mara dismissed Chaudhry and appointed Ratu Tevita Momoedonu, who rendered the necessary advice and then immediately resigned. Whether or not Mara's move was constitutionally allowable is open to debate. Revisions to the constitution are underway to clarify such ambiguities.

Part 4 Government Administration
Part 4 of Chapter 7, comprising Sections 110 through 114, deals with the organization of the civil, police, and military forces of Fiji.

Section 110 stipulates that every department of government shall have a permanent head, who may be styled Permanent Secretary, Secretary, Head of Department, or other appropriate title. By default the head of a department shall be called Secretary, unless another title is specifically chosen. The Secretary is responsible to the Minister in charge of the department.

This follows British, as distinct from American, practice. In the United States, the head of each department is a member of the President of the United States's Cabinet. British practice, on the other hand, is to keep the civil service separate from, but responsible to, political authority. While the Minister to whom each government department is ultimately responsible is an elected politician subject to replacement at any time, day-to-day administration of the department is in the hands of the Secretary who holds the office more or less permanently.

In this section, the term "department" specifically excludes the police and the military.

Section 111 establishes the office of Commissioner of Police. This official is appointed by the Constitutional Offices Commission, following consultation with the appropriate Cabinet Minister. The Commissioner of Police holds executive and administrative authority over the entire police force, and is answerable only to the Minister in charge. Parliament may, however, make laws regulating the police force.

Section 112 outlines the organization of the Military of Fiji, called the Republic of Fiji Military Forces. The President, on the advice of the appropriate Minister, appoints a Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, who is answerable to the said Minister. The Commander is responsible for all appointments, promotions, and demotions in the armed forces, and for all disciplinary action (including expulsion) against servicemen. In addition, Parliament may regulate the military in other ways.

Sections 113 and 114 establish the offices of Solicitor-General and Director of Public Prosecutions. Both must meet the qualifications required of judges. The Solicitor-General is appointed by the Judicial Service Commission following consultation with the Attorney-General. As specified elsewhere in this chapter, the Solicitor-General may exercise the functions of the Attorney-General in their absence. The Director of Public Prosecutions is appointed by the Constitutional Offices Commission following consultation with the Attorney-General. This official may order criminal charges to be brought against individuals and corporate entities, take over criminal proceedings instituted by another person or authority, or dismiss any charges before a judicial verdict has been rendered.

Charges brought before military courts are specifically excluded from the authority of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Part 5 Prerogative of Mercy
Part 5 of Chapter 7, comprises a single section: Sections 115.   Titled Prerogative of Mercy, it authorizes the President to issue full pardons and conditional pardons to persons convicted of any legal offence, to remit all or part of any penalty imposed, or to "grant... a respite, either indefinitely or for a specified period, of the execution of the punishment imposed for the offence."  This power is not to be exercised independently but only on the advice of the Commission on the Prerogative of Mercy. This commission consists of three persons: its chairman, the Attorney-General, and two other persons appointed by the President "acting in his or her own judgement." The appointment of this commission is one of the few aspects of government in which the President has a free hand. If a person has been sentenced to death in a civilian court, the commission must consider a report on the case written by the judge who presided at the trial, or, in the event of absence of that judge, by the Chief Justice. The commission must also take into account any other relevant facts derived from the record of the case, or from any sources to which the commission has access, before advising the President on whether or not to exercise the Prerogative of Mercy.

The Prerogative of Mercy was exercised by President Ratu Josefa Iloilo in 2001, when he commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence imposed on George Speight, who was convicted of treason for his leading role in the 2000 coup.

title: 1997 Constitution of Fiji: Chapter 7


text:
1997 Constitution of Fiji: Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Executive Government. Chapter 8 of the 1997 Constitution of Fiji is titled Great Council of Chiefs (Bose Levu Vakaturaga).  Its single section (Section 116) enshrines in the constitution a powerful feudal institution that has played a pivotal role in Fiji's history.

Section 116 Bose Levu Vakaturaga
This chapter, the shortest in the Fiji Constitution, stipulates that the Great Council of Chiefs, or Bose Levu Vakaturaga in Fijian, originally established under the Fijian Affairs Act, continues in existence, and that its membership, functions, operations, and procedures are as prescribed by that act.

The Great Council of Chiefs is a very old body, which has its roots in the chiefly councils established by Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau in the 1800s. It was retained as a consultative body by the British colonial rulers. It had no formal political role, however, until Fiji became independent in 1970. Under the independence constitution, it gained the authority to nominate 8 of the then 22 Senators.

Today, the Great Council of Chiefs nominates 14 Senators out of 32, and also serves as an electoral college to choose the President and Vice-President. But these powers are not stated in this chapter; they are set out elsewhere in the constitution.

Although previously established by an Act of Parliament, the framers of the 1997 Constitution thought it best to enshrine it there. With increased political representation being granted to Indo-Fijians, the chiefs felt they needed the security of having the Great Council enshrined in the constitution, and not merely in a legal document that could be amended at the whim of politicians.

title: 1997 Constitution of Fiji: Chapter 8