A microwave bridge, similar to the optical JAMIN interferometer, has been developed in order to determine the electron density in weakly ionized decaying plasmas. The discharge vessel was located in the open space between two horn antennas. A rather homogeneous excitation was accomplished by using an electrodeless high frequency (f = 13,6 MHz) discharge. Contrary to the common practice of using phase displacements several times of π, only very small displacements of the signal phase, traversing the plasma, have been used. The dimensions of the discharge vessel and the frequency of the microwave (f = 23 GHz; λ = 1,3 cm) have been properly chosen in order to have proportionality between the mean electron density and the oscilloscope trace. The range of electron-density investigated was about 108 to 1010 cm-3. The operation of the bridge has been investigated during the afterglow of a decaying nitrogen plasma. Simultaneous optical observations have shown that the intensity of the first negative bands of N2 + (B2Σu +-Χ2Σg +) is nearly proportional to the electron density. Using this correlation, the electron density profile across the discharge vessel has been evaluated. It could be shown that the time dependance of the electron density in the afterglow changes strongly within the discharge vessel. A comparison between the measurements of the electron density and the optical observations has shown that the microwave bridge is able to give some details of the electron density profile across the discharge vessel, inspite of the large wavelength used, compared with the dimensions of the discharge vessel.