Gen Than Shwe has ruled Burma since 1992 Leaders of Burma’s junta are reported to have resigned from their military posts, ahead of the country’s first general election in two decades.
The reports said Gen Than Shwe and his deputy, Gen Maung Aye, were among those to have stepped down.
The move would allow them to register to stand in the November election.
Observers believe Gen Than Shwe is unlikely to be willing to relinquish power entirely, and could be interested in the post of civilian president.
The military junta has said the upcoming elections are a crucial step in transferring power in Burma from the military to civilians, although critics have dismissed the vote as a sham.
Reports on Friday quoted officials as saying more than a dozen senior military officials had resigned.
The Irrawaddy website reported that Gen Than Shwe had retired from his military post, but would stay on as head of state.
The Democratic Voice of Burma website said both Gen Than Shwe and Gen Maung Aye were preparing to become president and vice-president of the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
It appears to be the junta’s second major reshuffle this year, after 27 senior officials retired from the military leadership in April. Those officials are widely expected to stand for election in November.
Gen Than Shwe, 77, has ruled Burma since 1992.
The last election, in 1990, was won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), but the military junta never let the party take power.
The NLD, which had refused to take part in the forthcoming election, was recently disbanded.
Under a recently adopted constitution, Burma’s president is due to be chosen through a vote taken in the newly elected parliament, in which a quarter of the seats will be reserved for the military.
Democracy activists and many Western governments say that even if Burma’s elections shift political rule from military to civilian, real power will lie in the same hands that it does now, BBC South East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey reports.
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