[5] The PP was founded on 26 November 2009 by Rudy Aernoudt and Mischaël Modrikamen, inspired in part by the examples of the People's Party in Spain and the Union for a Popular Movement in France.

[9] The PP aimed to reform the justice system and to strengthen the Belgian federal government relative to the regions and communities.

In its first electoral test, the 2010 Belgian general election, the PP won 84,005 votes (1.29% of the national total) and returned Laurent Louis as its first Member of Parliament for Walloon Brabant.

Laurent Louis had publicly supported the policy of Nicolas Sarkozy in deporting Roma people from France.

Aernoudt disputed the legality of his expulsion, and also criticized Modrikamen's call for a "Plan B" (an independent Wallonia-Brussels) as a betrayal of the party's federalist identity.