RANGOON, Myanmar, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Myanmar lawmakers, who took office this week, signaled they weren't keen to put junta leader Gen. Than Shwe in the role of the president.
The junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party was declared winner of 77 percent of the votes in November elections.
The junta in the run-up to the election said the first general election in more than 20 years would lead to democratic reform, though the international community expressed serious doubts.
Lawmakers in Myanmar nominated five candidates to compete for three vice presidential positions and Than Shwe wasn't among those listed, the Irrawaddy news agency reports.
Lawmakers can't serve as president unless they are first nominated for vice president, which the news agency said puts the leading general's political future in doubt.
November elections were boycotted by the party led by pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
The country's courts have refused an appeal by Suu Kyi to have her National League for Democracy party reinstated.
P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said Washington viewed the decision not to reinstate Suu Kyi's party as a "lost opportunity" for reform.
