Cambio 90's success hinged largely on the success of its candidate for the presidency,
Alberto Fujimori, an agricultural engineer and rector of the Universidad Nacional Agraria (National Agrarian University) in
Lima's
La Molina District from 1984 to 1989. Fujimori's appeal to a large extent was his standing as a political outsider. At the same time,
Cambio's success was also attributed largely to its eclectic political base and its active grassroots campaign. Its two main bases of support were the Asociación Peruana de Empresas Medias y Pequeñas (APEMIPE), an association of
SMEs, and the
informal sector workers who associated their cause with APEMIPE, and the
Evangelical movement. Less than four percent of the Peruvian population was
Protestant, but the evangelicals were extremely active at the grassroots level, particularly in areas where traditional parties were weak, such as the urban shantytowns, the
pueblos jóvenes, and rural areas in the
mountains. Although the party only began activities in January 1990, by the time of the elections it had 200,000 members in its ranks. However, its success at the polls did not translate into a lasting party machinery. The organization was much more of a front than a political party, and its ability to hold together was called into question within a few weeks after attaining power.
Cambio 90's two bases of support had little in common with each other except opposition to
Mario Vargas Llosa. Its links to Fujimori were new and were ruptured to a large extent when Fujimori opted for an orthodox economic shock program. Less than six months into his government, Fujimori broke with many of his
Cambio supporters, including the second vice president and leader of the evangelical movement,
Carlos García y García, and APEMIPE. The latter became disenchanted with Fujimori because small businesses were threatened by the dramatic price rises and opening to foreign competition that the
Fujishock program entailed. During Fujimori's first term in office,
APRA and Vargas Llosa's party, the
FREDEMO, remained in control of both chambers of
Congress, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, hampering the enactment of economic reform. Fujimori also had difficulty of combatting the
Maoist Shining Path () guerrilla organization due largely to what he perceived as intransigence and obstructionism in Congress. By March 1992, the Congress met with the approval of only 17% of the electorate, according to one poll; the president's approval stood at 42%, in the same poll. In the
1995 general elections, Fujimori won re-election for a second term, while the party, along with its partner
New Majority won a majority of seats in Congress. During the 2000 elections,
Martha Chávez suggested that Fujimori would dissolve Congress if the party, then known as
Peru 2000, did not win a majority of seats. She also said that she could not rule out a fourth election of Fujimori, despite the fact that the
Constitution of Peru which was written in part by Chávez herself allows presidents to be elected no more than twice in a row. For the
2006 general election, the
Alliance for the Future coalition was formed, in which Cambio 90 was part alongside New Majority. With
Martha Chávez as their presidential nominee, the coalition placed fourth failing to qualify in the June run-off, while in the congressional election, the list got 13 out of 120 seats and received the most votes in Pasco. After the 2006 elections, all of the 13 representatives elected on the Alliance for the Future lists has formed the
Parliamentary Fujimorista Group () in Congress. == Last years and dissolution ==