Francois Duvalier names his nineteen-year-old son as successor

On this day Haitians learned who the president-for-life had chosen to follow him. In his New Year address Francois Duvalier had promised a successor who had followed the affairs of government closely. It was his son Jean-Claude, nineteen years old and under the age the 1964 Constitution required. The Constitution had already been amended on 13 January to fix that. A referendum was set for 31 January; the ballots carried only the word OUI, and the count reported not one dissenting vote.