The PUN was founded in 1957 as a political platform to support the presidential candidacy of "Papa Doc" Duvalier in the 1957 general election.

[1] In the aftermath of the July 1958 coup attempt, the Tonton Macoute — officially named Volunteers of the National Security (French: Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale, VSN) — was formed as the paramilitary wing of the PUN.

[6][7] After the return of "Baby Doc" Duvalier from exile in 2011,[8] the party began a process of reconstitution under its original name from 2014, and started opening departmental offices.

[9] Suffering a setback with the death of "Baby Doc" Duvalier in 2014,[10] the party nominated Marc-Arthur Drouillard as its candidate in the 2015 presidential election.

[11] Towards that time, the legal representative of the party was Philomène Exe.