The political party of the Marxist presidential candidate on track to win Sri Lanka's presidential elections vowed Sunday not to scrap the country's unpopular $2.9 billion IMF bailout agreement, but instead renegotiate it.

Sri Lanka’s president said reopening talks with the International Monetary Fund over a bailout program would represent the biggest threat to the island nation’s economy, hitting back at his opponents who have pledged fresh dialogue with the lender.

Sri Lanka's Marxist-leaning leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, grabbed a commanding early lead on Sunday in his bid to become the next president of the debt-ridden country seeking to elect a leader to bolster its fragile economic recovery.