LDK said Saturday it was quitting the government of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, a day after an early election was called for February.

"Starting from Monday, October 18, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) withdraws from the ruling coalition, in other words from the Kosovo government," the party said in a statement, without providing further details.

Kosovo now has eight days to pull together a caretaker government or hold elections within 45 days after that. The vote will mark the first general elections since Kosovo proclaimed its independence from Serbia in February 2008.

The announcement came a day after Kosovo's interim President Jakup Krasniqi called an early election for February 13, following the surprise resignation of Sejdiu in late September after the constitutional court ruled he could not lead the LDK while in office.

Thaci's PDK party said the LDK's decision could send the country into a political crisis. "After this decision we have new circumstances and an institutional crisis," deputy PDK leader Enver Hoxhaj said, reading a party statement. "Now, emergency constitutional and political solutions are needed for our country."