The article analyzes multiparty coalition governments formation under authoritarian tutelage through the cases of Morocco and Algeria. Even if Morocco and Algeria are different in terms of colonial legacy, post-colonial political trajectories, forms of state and (un)democratic ranks, in both cases coalition governments are a function of a strategy of regime survival, although with different nuances. In Algeria and Morocco, as it is the case in much of the MENA region, party systems were shaped by exogenous factors, such periods of politicization and inclusion, and the degree to which parties played a role in the consolidation of regimes. In Morocco, the trajectory of party development and subsequent multiparty coalition-building have been chartered by the palace. The regime’s recycling of party coalitions in the government allows the monarchy in Morocco to foster a set of political practices with an effective concentration and application of power allowing opposition parties some stake in nominal power, while the monarchy and the palace shadow government are positively in power. In Algeria, meanwhile, multiparty coalition government represents regime’s adaptation to the political liberalization that initiated in 1989. In fact, while coalition politics imposed itself as necessary after the introduction of multipartism, the parties that have since sided with what was once the only party have been either created or controlled by the army with the ultimate aim of preserving its control over Algerian politics and resisting the process of democratization.