After that victory, the 'Pouvanaa Committee' (formed by his Pouvanaa's supporters for the election campaign) and a group of ex-servicemen founded the RDPT on November 17, 1949.
At the time of its foundation, the party proposed various political and social reforms in favour of the Maohi community, such as calling for land reform, expanded access to education and employments in the public sector, strengthened social security.
The party sought to increase the powers of the Territorial Assembly, achieving greater autonomy from metropolitan France.
The RDPT sought to build a national economy through the introduction of an income tax scheme, to prepare the islands for independence.
[9] Once it became publicly known that France intended to conduct tests of Nuclear bombs in French Polynesia, the RDPT was radicalised.
In 1963, President Charles de Gaulle issued a ban on the party, invoking a law that enabled outlawing political organizations that threatened French 'national integrity'.
[10] The decision was motivated by a message from Pouvanaa to RDPT from jail, which had called on the party on advocate full independence.