The Georgian government has exerted “constant pressure and blackmail” on president Salome Zourabichvili to nominate Lasha Khutsishvili, the finance minister, for the vacant position in the country’s national bank board, Giorgi Mskhiladze, the president’s parliamentary secretary said on Wednesday. 

The comment came on the heels of the allegations by the ruling party earlier the day that the president’s delay to present the candidates for two vacant posts in the bank board was hampering the institution’s “smooth operations” and the election of its new chair. 

Mskhiladze said the president was considering Khutishvili’s nomination as a “professional candidate”, but questioned his impartiality due to his affiliation with the government. 

“What really damages and hinders the activity of the bank is today's statement of the ruling party, which finally revealed that the said candidate is the only one and has no alternative, not only for the government, but also for the ruling party”, Mskhiladze said. 

He claimed the president’s delay to present the candidates for the board did not hinder its activities due to the presence of a “very qualified and professional” acting ruler, as well as the election process of a new chairperson. 

In remarks on the ruling party’s  warnings that it would override the president’s veto on the bank to ensure the “uninterrupted work” of the NBG, Mskhiladze said “what really served and protected the interests of the bank was the veto”. 

The president vetoed the bill in February, citing threats to its independence as the reason and “no necessity” of additional members in its board. 

The ruling party claimed it had agreed with the president not to override the veto if she presented Khutsishvili for the post, which the party said Zourabichvili did not meet and postponed nomination of the board candidates from March to the end of this year.