Banda Aceh – An eight-person team from the European Union has begun monitoring work ahead of elections in Indonesia's Aceh province, the head of the monitoring mission said Tuesday.

The head of the EU Election Observation Mission, Glyn Ford, told AFP that 36 more members would be arriving in just over a week and another 36 would bolster their numbers shortly ahead of polling day, set for December 11.

Under a peace pact signed between separatist rebels and the Jakarta government, Aceh will for the first time directly elect its governor and vice-governor, as well as district leaders in the polls. Ford said that the 80 EU monitors will be helped by hundreds of local staffers, bringing the team numbers up to 300.

He said that the team planned to open up to 12 offices across Aceh to comprehensively monitor the elections. The peace pact stipulated the presence of foreign observers.

The pact was spurred on by the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which lashed Aceh's coastlines killing some 168,000 people and forced both sides to reassess their priorities at the negotiating table.

Ford added that the assessment of polls should be available at the latest 10 days after election day.