Historian Guram Gumba, writer Daur Zantaria and Russian poet Aleksandr Bardodym received the idea of creating the party when the latter visited Abkhazia in 1990. The founding congress was held on 19 January 1991 in the Abkhaz Drama Theatre in Sukhumi, and led by Zantaria, Gumba was elected the party's first (and last) Chairman. Among its other founding members were Natella Akaba, Georgi Gulia, Tamara Shakryl and Boris Kekhir-ipa. Another name suggested for the party was Democratic Union of Abkhazia.