A French court has found National Rally leader Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzling European Union funds, Al Jazeera reported on Monday. As per Al Jazeera, the Paris court ruled that Le Pen used more than 3 million euros (USD 3.3m) of the European Parliament funds for paying the members of her National Rally party.

The ruling therefore threatens to push her out of the 2027 presidential race, in which she is currently the front-runner, according to opinion polls cited by Al Jazeera. The sentencing could see Le Pen be declared ineligible to run for the office.