Guinea-Bissau's junta to hold general elections on December 6
West African nation’s military rulers set a December 6 vote date, pledging a swift return to civilian rule under regional pressure after last year’s coup.
Guinea-Bissau's junta said in a decree published on Wednesday that the country would 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 junta leader, General Horta N'Tam, in front of the press.
The announcement comes two months after the junta 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, the country's military overthrew president Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who was seeking a second term, and suspended the electoral process.
The junta has since appointed N'Tam, a close Embalo associate, as transitional leader.
It has claimed that it seized power to "avoid a bloodbath between supporters of the rival 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 Leonean President and ECOWAS chair Julius Maada Bio and his Senegalese counterpart Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
The two leaders held talks with the junta and have called for a short, structured and transparent transition.
They have also demanded the release of political opponents, including major opposition leader Domingos Simoes Pereira, who were imprisoned on the day of the coup.