The party was founded in 1990 by Rhissa Ag Boula, with Mohamed Abdoullahi becoming party president in 1992. In the 1993 parliamentary elections it received only 463 votes, but won a single seat in the National Assembly. Following Mahamane Ousmane's victory in subsequent the presidential elections the party joined the ruling Alliance of the Forces of Change, with the UDPS' Ben Wahab Aïchatou became Niger's first female minister when she was appointed Minister of Traditional Commerce and Arts.[4][5]