Le Pen lashes out at "weak" Macron

French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on Monday attacked her centrist rival Emmanuel Macron over his allegedly poor credentials in combating terrorism and curbing extremism at home.

"I'm on the ground to meet the French people to draw their attention to important subjects, including Islamist terrorism to which the least we can say Macron is weak on," Le Pen told reporters.

"This is someone who runs for president and has no program to protect the French people in the face of Islamist terrorism dangers," she added during a visit in northern town of Pas-de-Calais.

Security and immigration have been flagship points in far right presidential campaigns for decades.

In 2002, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the frontrunner's father, who founded the National Front party (FN), reached the second round of the presidential election in 2002 by capitalizing on mass public insecurity over the economy and immigration.

He was defeated by then president Jacques Chirac in the second round after voters from the left and the right rallied around him.

Some 15 years later, the 48-year-old year lawyer follows in the footsteps of her father by scoring highly and bringing an anti-establishment party into the country's political mainstream.

"We cannot afford to lose this war. But for the past ten years, left-wing and right-wing governments have done everything they can for us to lose it. We need a presidency which acts and protects us," Le Pen told reporters at her campaign headquarter after last week's shooting in Paris which was claimed by Islamic State (IS).

In first round of French presidential elections, the centrist Macron snatched the top spot with 23.75 percent of the vote against Le Pen's 21.53 percent.

Pollsters predict the former economy minister will defeat his eurosceptic rival in the May 7 run-off. Endit