Bashar Hafez al-Assad ( , Levantine pronunciation: ; born 11 September 1965) is the President of Syria, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces, General Secretary of the ruling Ba'ath Party and Regional Secretary of the party's branch in Syria. On 10 July 2000, he was elected president succeeding Hafez al-Assad, his father, who had led Syria for 30 years and died in office a month prior. He was subsequently approved by the Syrian electorate once again in the uncontested 2007 election. On 16 July 2014, Bashar Assad was sworn in for a new seven-year term, after his victory in the controversial June presidential election against two regime sanctioned candidates, the first contested presidential election in Ba'athist Syria's history.