Rodrigo Paz is vowing to be a leader in Latin America that promises to bring the country together. 

In Bolivia’s recent presidential runoff, voters rejected both the ruling party of the left and a return to the hard right. Instead, they chose something far rarer in Latin America today: a candidate who ran on unity, moderation, and a promise to govern without ideological blinders. 

Rodrigo Paz will take office on November 8. His pitch was clear and consistent: a steady hand to repair the economy, clean up government, and bring together a fractured country. He did not promise retribution. He said he would work with anyone willing to focus on fixing problems rather than scoring points. 

In his first remarks as president-elect, Paz and his running mate called for?unidad y reconciliación, urging Bolivians to ‘leave aside hatred and division’ and he underscored a pragmatic mandate: ‘Ideology doesn’t put food on the table.’   

That makes Paz an outlier in the region. 

Most of Latin America’s current leaders are easy to sort into the traditional camps of left and right. Many are openly partisan or ideological, be it Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on the left in Brazil or Javier Millei on the right in Argentina. A few have taken more extreme turns, either by consolidating power or attacking democratic institutions such as in Venezuela and El Salvador. By contrast, Paz is one of the only leaders in the region whose campaign and early mandate are rooted in a centrist idea of governance, one that sees the country as more than the sum of its political factions. 

Here’s what that regional picture looks like today: 

 

This is not to say the other leaders in the region are all extremists. Some are reformers. Some are technocrats. But almost none were elected on the promise of putting the country above ideology. Paz was. And that is why his win matters. 

No one should overread one election result. Bolivia faces serious challenges. Paz will have to manage a fragile economy, deal with entrenched political opposition, and respond to voters who are impatient for change. But he starts with something powerful: a clear mandate to lead not just one side, but the whole country. 

That is a rare thing. And it deserves our attention, and our hope that more leaders across the Americas might follow the same path.