President Hashim Thaci "has decided today to call early elections for the assembly... and has set the date for Sunday, October 6, 2019," the president's office said in a statement.

Haradinaj, who was a commander of ethnic Albanian rebels during the 1998-99 war with Serbia, resigned in July after he was summoned by international prosecutors in The Hague.

A special court there -- which operates under Kosovo law but has international judges -- is investigating alleged war crimes by Kosovo guerrillas during and after the war with Serbia.

New elections will inevitably add a delay to already faltering talks with Serbia.

The neighbours still have a hostile relationship two decades after their war, with Belgrade refusing to recognise the independence that Kosovo, a former province, declared in 2008.

Yet a political shake-up could also add new energy to talks that have been frozen for months.

Haradinaj took a hardline stance against Belgrade, bringing their EU-led dialogue to a halt after he imposed a 100 percent tariff on Serbian goods in November.

He has remained intransigent in the face of heavy international pressure to lift the tariff, which Serbia insists is a prerequisite for returning to the negotiating table.

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