**Exhibit
31.1**
 
 Certification
 
 I, Joseph
W. Evans, Chief Executive Officer of Flag Financial Corporation, certify
that:
 
 1.
    
    I
      have reviewed the annual report on Form 10-K of Flag Financial
      Corporation;2.
    
    Based
      on my knowledge, this annual report does not contain any untrue statement
      of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the
      statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
      were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this
      annual report;3.
    
    Based
      on my knowledge, the financial statements and other financial information
      included in this annual report fairly present in all material respects the
      financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
      registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this annual
      report;4.
    
    The
      registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for
      establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
      defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal
      control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
      13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and we
have:a)
    designed
      such disclosure controls and procedures to ensure that material
      information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated
      subsidiary, is made known to us by others within those entities,
      particularly during the period in which this annual report is being
      prepared;b)
    designed
      such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal
      control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to
      provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial
      reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external
      purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting
      principles;c)
    evaluated
      the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures
      presented in this annual report our conclusions about the effectiveness of
      the disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered
      by this report based on such evaluation; andd)
    disclosed
      in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over
      financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s fourth fiscal
      quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to
      materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial
      reporting;5.
    
    The
      registrant’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our
      most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to
      the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of registrant’s board of
      directors (or persons performing the equivalent
  functions):a)
    all
      significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
      operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
      reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record,
      process, summarize and report financial information;
andb)
    any
      fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other
      employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control
      over financial reporting.
 
 Date:
      March 16, 2005/s/
      Joseph W. EvansJoseph
      W. EvansChief
      Executive Officer