BEIRUT: Disputes over electoral proposals to govern the upcoming elections will not shake the alliance of the March 14 coalition, an advisor to former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said following a meeting with Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea.

“The March 14 alliance is stronger and transcends electoral interests and our stances are solid and differences in opinion over the electoral proposal will not lead to shaking these forces,” Mohammad Shatah said, according to an LF statement.

Geagea and the country’s other Christian parties have backed the Orthodox Gathering proposal – which projects Lebanon as a single district where each sect elects its own members of Parliament – a system that the Future Movement strongly opposes.

According to the LF statement, the two held talks for a period of two hours in Maarab.

Following the meeting, Shatah said the visit was aimed at “discussing with Geagea the electoral law and the proposals that fall within the interests of both the Future Movement and Lebanese Forces in the March 14 coalition.”

Shatah said the two agreed on the need to boost the state and democracy as well as reassuring Lebanese of all sects, “particularly the issue of protecting Christian [interests] so that they do not feel they are a minority, but rather a central component to the Lebanese fabric, and this protection is the proper approach to prevent veering the country into a sectarian or religious direction.”