Centrist Bolivian presidential frontrunner Rodrigo Paz is hoping to attract a diverse group of voters with catch-all rhetoric to fix Bolivia’s worst economic crisis in decades, promising to maintain some social benefits reminiscent of the outgoing left-wing government while also slashing the country's deficit.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, the self-styled moderate resisted rising pressure to clarify his policies with only weeks to go before a hotly contested presidential runoff against former right-wing President Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga.

"If you want to be a smart government that generates stability and governance, start getting along well with your neighbors,” he told the AP from his art-filled apartment in Bolivia's capital of La Paz.

After weeks of polling near the bottom of the eight-candidate field, Paz rocketed to first place in the Aug. 17 general election as his cross-party approach met an untapped demand in the Bolivian electorate.

He and his running mate, former police captain Edman Lara, offered a relatively fresh face in a race otherwise dominated by the same old choice duality of the governing Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS, and traditional conservative parties controlled by Bolivia’s wealthy elite.

Paz appealed to voters across the political spectrum by blending a dose of economic deregulation and fiscal prudence with centrist reassurances and social programs like pension increases and universal income for women.

He said his government would end Bolivia’s costly fuel subsidies but maintain the assistance for schoolchildren and older people.

To those who see his rhetoric as contradictory, he pointed to Bolivia's entrepreneurial city of El Alto, the original crucible of MAS that helped fuel the 2006 rise of Bolivia's long-serving charismatic former leader Evo Morales, the country's first Indigenous president.

Paz is hoping the sprawling city on the frigid plains above La Paz — a self-regulated commercial hub with a reputation for igniting social unrest home to Bolivia’s largest Indigenous population — can do the same for him and Lara.

The merchants of El Alto cheered Morales’ nationalization of natural resources, generous subsidies and increased rights for Indigenous Bolivians historically excluded from power. But, as fans of low taxes and small government, they soured on Morales’ socialism.

Known for their ethic of self-reliance — "On its feet, never its knees” is the city's ubiquitous slogan — the people of El Alto have been skeptical of Quiroga's proposals to turn to the International Monetary Fund for a massive bailout and open lithium production to foreign investors.

Paz has played to those nationalist sentiments. He said Monday that he would keep strategic state-owned companies in public hands while privatizing only loss-making companies — and restricting those sales to Bolivian buyers.

He has ruled out an IMF rescue package but proposed turning to allied countries and development banks for support in managing Bolivia's public debt, which the IMF estimates to be at 95% of the country's gross domestic product.

The senator, with little experience beyond the southern city of Tarija where he served as mayor, appears to realize he risks losing supporters if he spells out his policies any further in the coming days.

AP Video by Carlos Guerrero

Produced by Victor R. Caivano