Former Royal aide defects to Sarkozy

PARIS (Reuters) - A disaffected former aide to Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal announced on Sunday he was backing her conservative rival, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Eric Besson quit his post as Royal's top economic adviser in February, criticizing her campaign methods. He also resigned from the Socialist party.

"Nicolas Sarkozy has launched an appeal for people to unite around a 'fraternal Republic'," Besson said in a statement after Sarkozy and Royal won through Sunday's presidential election first round to contest a run-off vote on May 6.

"After holding a lengthy discussion with him (Sarkozy) on the fundamental issues on Saturday, I have decided to join him and give him my support."

French weekly magazine L'Express reported on its Website the meeting had been arranged by Sarkozy as part of a plan to steer back towards the centre in the second round, after pushing increasingly hard towards the right in the first round.

Political analyst Christophe Barbier said Besson's defection highlighted the battle for centrist votes which is likely to dominate campaigning in the final two weeks.

"We saw Sarkozy this evening speaking right away in terms of rallying forces," he said, referring to a speech by Sarkozy after the first round of voting. "He has even made an alliance with Eric Besson so that he joins the Sarkozy campaign."