The party was established by Darboux in 1956 in the Djougou region in order to compete against Hubert Maga and the Dahomeyan Democratic Movement (MDD).
[1] It was originally known as Defense of Economic Interests (Défense des Intérèts Économiques, DIE).
[2] Darboux won the Djougou seat in the March 1957 Territorial Assembly elections.
By this time the party had been renamed the Independents of the North (Indépendants du Nord).
In August 1957 the party merged with the MDD to form the Dahomeyan Democratic Rally (RDD).