The party was formed on 5 May 2009 by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz after he resigned from the military, to run for President of Mauritania.

[6][7] As a result of the 2018 parliamentary election, UPR became the largest political party in Mauritania.

[8] Four major political parties merged into the Union for the Republic after the election.

On October 18, 2018, a month after the previous legislative election, the Unionist Party for the Construction of Mauritania voted to merge itself into the UPR.

[9] On the 21st, Choura for Development adopted the same decision,[10] while centrist El Wiam, which used to be on the moderate opposition, did the same on the 29th.