Guinea-Bissau's transitional government has said in a decree published on Wednesday that the country will hold presidential and legislative elections on December 6.

"All the conditions for organising free, fair and transparent elections have been met," according to the decree read by transitional president, General Horta N'Tam, in front of the press.

The announcement comes two months after the military seized power and follows a transitional charter, published early December, which bars N'Tam from running for election.

Just days after Guinea-Bissau held a presidential election in November, President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who was seeking a second term, was toppled. Additionally, the electoral process was suspended.

ECOWAS leaders engage Guinea-Bissau

The military said it seized power to "avoid a bloodbath between supporters of the rival presidential candidates."

The election announcement comes several days after a visit to Bissau by an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) mission, led by Sierra Leone's President and ECOWAS chairperson Julius Maada Bio and his Senegalese counterpart Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

The two leaders held talks with the Guinea-Bissau's top officials, and have called for a short, structured and transparent transition.