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The decision of President Pierre Nkurunziza to run for a third term plunged Burundi into a crisis. With the resurgence of political violence, there was a risk that the situation would spiral out of control. To what extent did this crisis reflect deep divisions or tensions between different groups in Burundi? Or did this crisis result mainly from the strategy of politicians ignoring the population’s concerns and needs? This article addresses these questions using original data from a statistical household survey on “Governance, Peace and Security” (GPS-SHaSA) conducted in 2014. The analysis shows that the crisis was not linked to regional or ethnic divides, but was a clear illustration of politicians’ individual strategies working against citizens’ democratic aspirations.