Recent elections in Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay have added to the sense that South America is at a turning point, as mass protests have erupted in Ecuador, Chile and Bolivia. Something is indeed happening in the region, but those who claim that this is the return of the “pink tide”—the period in the early 2000s when leftist governments were sweeping to power—are missing the point. What is unfolding is not a counter-reformation, with the left reemerging after it was toppled and replaced by the right. It is something more subtle and potentially more lasting.

South America is entering a post-ideological phase. In country after country over the past decade or more, voters have given a chance to the left and the right. Now they’re losing patience with both sides. The restlessness and discontent visible in the streets and at the ballot box are evidence of an electorate that has little interest in ideological orthodoxies, whether they come from neoliberals or socialists. People want governments that produce results and work for them, for everyone. The age of accepting corruption as an inescapable fact of life in the region is over. Strong economic growth and other indicators of progress are not enough, as the violent eruption of popular anger in Chile makes clear.

Instead of political oratory or advanced economics degrees, successful South American leaders will now have to balance a new set of skills: results-oriented management bolstered by a talent for projecting empathy, and all backed by specific governing plans. When difficult decisions are needed, effective leadership must be able to explain them to voters and earn their trust and consent.

It’s easy to paint recent events across South America as a comeback for the left. After all, Argentina’s center-right president, Mauricio Macri, lost his reelection bid to a ticket that included one of the leaders of the pink tide, former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who was running for vice president this time. In Bolivia, President Evo Morales, another pink tide original, claimed victory in contested elections earlier this month for a fourth consecutive term. In Ecuador and Chile, mass protests triggered by increases in the cost of basic services forced both governments to change course.

And yet, despite dramatic reverses for right-of-center governments, voters seem to have little desire to return to the days when leftist politicians, many of them speaking the language of populism while showing a propensity for undercutting democratic norms and refusing to give up power, promised to bring an end to poverty and inequality. To be sure, that time at the turn of the millennium was filled with promise. A commodities boom filled state coffers with cash for desperately needed social programs, driving poverty down in countries like Brazil and Chile. But when the boom went bust, those coffers quickly emptied and unsustainable budget deficits created other problems.

At the height of the pink tide, when Hugo Chavez cut a larger-than-life figure in Venezuela and across the region, leftist governments held power from Ecuador to Uruguay. But few voters today seem to yearn for a return to “21st-century socialism,” as Chavez called it. In part, that’s the result of the disaster that befell Venezuela. In the midst of a full-blown economic collapse and a seemingly unsolvable political crisis that has driven millions of refugees and migrants out of the country, Venezuela acts as a giant warning sign against a return to those old ways.

The recent election results show how discontent is manifesting itself in new ways. In Colombia’s municipal elections last weekend, the most remarkable result was the election of Claudia Lopez as the new mayor of Bogota, arguably the second-most important political position in the country after president. Lopez, who holds a doctorate from Northwestern University in Illinois, is a center-left, anti-corruption fighter. She is also the first woman and the first openly gay politician elected mayor of Colombia’s capital, where success or failure are judged not by political ideology but by how well public transportation functions, how safe the streets are and how well garbage is collected. More than anything, the election in Bogota was a vote for good governance, and voters rejected candidates of both the far right and the far left.

In Uruguay, the leftist Broad Front, which has been in power for 15 years, will face a second-round runoff in the presidential race, as expected. Although the Broad Front’s Daniel Martinez took the most votes in the first round, it was not enough to avoid a runoff, and his conservative rivals now look set to join forces. The left’s days may be numbered in Montevideo.

In Argentina, Macri’s market-friendly policies and reform agenda failed, his reelection all but doomed by the fact that the more investors feared the return of Cristina Fernandez, the worse the economy did. As currency markets went into a tailspin and inflation surged, Macri’s prospects sank and his rivals’ soared. And yet, dogged by her own criminal prosecutions and concerns about a return to her brand of economic populism, Cristina Fernandez was forced to find a running mate for the top of the ticket as the only way to ensure victory. The next president, Alberto Fernandez—no relation—may well follow a more pragmatic course than she did.

In Bolivia, Morales, one of the longest serving president in Latin America, clearly defied the will of the people by staying in office. When he held a referendum in 2016 on amending the constitution to allow him a fourth term, the public rejected it. But Morales proceeded anyway after the Supreme Court dubiously cleared the way. The vote-counting following the elections on Oct. 20 has looked suspicious, sparking huge protests. After initial returns suggested Morales would have to face challenger Carlos Mesa in a runoff, the authorities stopped publishing the results for nearly 24 hours. When the counting resumed, it showed Morales winning outright. After a week of street demonstrations, Morales now says he will allow a runoff if voter fraud is found.

The pink tide is not washing ashore again in South America. Instead, voters are giving up on leaders driven by hard ideology. They want clean government, and with it, prosperity, security, less inequality and an end to corruption. Not surprisingly, that’s what people the world over are demanding.

 

***Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist. A former CNN producer and correspondent, she is a regular contributor to CNN and The Washington Post. Her WPR column appears every Thursday. Follow her on Twitter at @fridaghitis.