RD was founded by a group of various personalities, that came from the moderate and technocratic wing of the Spanish State, and participated in the process of constitution of People's Alliance.

Different moderate sectors of Francoist Spain were organized under the leadership of Manuel Fraga Iribarne, in order to form a conservative political group oriented to a limited reform of the Franco system.

In December of that same year (1976) the First National Congress of RD, which elected Manuel Fraga Iribarne as its president and Carlos Argos García as the general secretary, was held.

In parallel with the deployment of Democratic Reform, Manuel Fraga Iribarne established contacts with other, relatively, moderate members of Francoist Spain, including former ministers and Laureano López Rodó and Federico Silva Muñoz.

These contacts, culminating in the creation of the People's Alliance, divided the members of RD, some of which, as Gabriel Cisneros, left the project in January to protest the prospect of integration with other groups of the Francoist right.