Macron risks election DISASTER & may hand France to far-right Marine Le Pen as she dubs Covid jab chaos his ‘Waterloo’

EMMANUEL Macron is risking election disaster as far-right rival Marine Le Pen dubbed France's Covid vaccine chaos his 'Waterloo'.

The French President finds himself under increasing pressure as his hard-hit country enters its THIRD national lockdown.

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France is now routinely seeing tens of thousands of new coronavirus cases a day - with 41,907 cases recorded on Wednesday alone.

And the total number of Covid patients in intensive care in France surged past 5,000 this week - the highest ICU figure for 11 months.

Now Macron has been branded a "solitary leader" who has failed to listen to the experts,

He has found himself under fire for resisting a full lockdown in January and for worrying delays in rolling out life-saving vaccines.

Le Pen, Macron's closest election rival, said the French are now "suffering the consequences of these delays, his pride, and his inconsistent decision-making, with a heavy price on their daily lives".

The National Rally leader added: "The measures announced by Macron are mainly the consequence of a vaccination Waterloo."

She spoke out as new polls show her closing in on Macron ahead of next April's election.

In 2017, she was easily beaten by Macron 34-66 but now polls show much narrower margins of around 48-52. 

“It’s well within the margin of error”, Le Pen said in an interview with the Anglo-American Press Association.

And she was quick to point out that both François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac had run unsuccessfully twice before winning the presidency.

Others have also stepped forward to tell Macron to raise his game.

Gérard Larcher, conservative chairman of the senate, said: "You get the impression of a solitary president.

"Never have we reached such top-down command. I urge him to change his ways."

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the radical left Unbowed France, called on Macron to increase vaccine supplies and adopt a more effective strategy to combat the pandemic.

But one of the president's biggest critic has been Le Pen - whose popularity first soared amid growing resentment at the EU and fears over immigration.

After briefly topping the polls in the 2016 European elections, Le Pen hoped to be elected her country's first female - and far-right - president.

If she came to power she vowed to cut immigration by 80 per cent, make it more difficult to become a French citizen and end access to free basic healthcare for illegal migrants.

However, Macron eventually won 65 per cent of the vote in 2017, which way in excess of the 50 per cent required.