The civil initiative for the establishment of the party was launched by former Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats (HNS) chief Radimir Čačić and his associates Natalija Martinčević and Petar Baranović. More than two-thirds of the party members are former members of the HNS which left the party because of disagreements with its leadership over the exclusion of Radimir Čačić from the party while he was serving a prison sentence for unintentionally causing a traffic accident with two fatalities.
According to the parties former acting president Natalija Martinčević, about 200 members from HNSZagreb and Varaždin branches each have left the party in order to join the People's party - Reformists.[3]
The party's founding congress was held on September 28, 2014 in Zagreb.[4]Radimir Čačić was unanimously elected for the first party president.[5]
The following is a summary of the party's results in legislative elections for the Croatian parliament. The "total votes" and "percentage" columns include sums of votes won by pre-election coalitions NS-R had been part of.