[7] Following the elections, Wilhelm Molterer resigned as chairman of the ÖVP and was replaced by agriculture minister Josef Pröll.

The Greens' federal spokesman Alexander Van der Bellen, who had served since 1997, also resigned and was succeeded by his deputy Eva Glawischnig.

Due to the Liberal Forum's failure to win seats, party founder Heide Schmidt and financier Hans-Peter Haselsteiner both announced their retirement from politics.

Less than two weeks after the election, BZÖ leader and governor of Carinthia Jörg Haider died in a car accident.

The newly formed government was criticised from the beginning from parts of the opposition and left-wing circles in the SPÖ for having failed to push through in the coalition negotiations most of the pledges and promises made in the election campaign.

Following this, internal criticism within the SPÖ of Gusenbauer grew, leading to the decision to designate infrastructure minister Werner Faymann as its new party leader.

They did this without seeking the approval of either the party leadership or their coalition partner ÖVP; it was widely perceived by Austrian and foreign media as a populist action and in acquiesce to the Eurosceptic position of Kronen Zeitung.

[13] On 7 July 2008, ÖVP leader Wilhelm Molterer declared that he could not continue to work with the SPÖ (the precise words with which he opened the news conference were "That's enough!

[26] The Swiss Neue Zürcher Zeitung stated that Dinkhauser had "with hindsight been the first link in a chain of causation which led to the early elections, even though he had only wanted to force open the encrusted political landscape in Tyrol.

[42] The FPÖ was seen as strongly increasing their share of the votes when compared to the 2006 election and the BZÖ was seen as having secured its stay in the National Council.

The Greens were seen to be stagnating, while the extraparliamentary parties faced difficulties with entering parliament, with the chances of LIF and the FRITZ intact.

[44] Analysts asserted that the Greens' decision to strongly support the animal rights activists remanded in custody under controversial circumstances (see above) might be risky, but that it might pay off through the increased publicity and mobilisation of core voters.

[46] Campaigning in the 2008 Austrian legislative election revolved around inflation, rising prices, transport, future treaties of the European Union, crime, integration, right to stay, education, privatisation of Austrian Airlines, budgets, TV schedule, fairness accord, the Eurofighter Typhoon contract renegotiation and the Role of the Kronen Zeitung.

The ballots featured parliamentary parties in the order of votes they received in the last election, i.e. SPÖ, ÖVP, Greens, FPÖ, BZÖ.

The Greens suffered slight losses, while neither the LIF nor the Citizens' Forum Austria crossed the electoral threshold of 4%.

Government formation was expected to be very difficult and take a long time as both the SPÖ and the ÖVP had to assess and analyze their losses and decide on a course of action.

Strache also gained the most regional constituency preference votes (24,301), followed by Haider with 15,836 and SPÖ trade unionist Josef Muchitsch with 9,998.

[56] On 6 October 2008, Haider stated he was against a reunification, as the two parties had developed into different directions and could gain more votes separately than reunified.

[58] Johannes Hahn and Maria Fekter had been mentioned as possible alternatives to Molterer; a party leadership meeting was held on 29 September 2008.

[61] As expected, Pröll was approved as party leader with 89.6% of the votes (the worst result in the history of ÖVP in leadership elections without an opposing candidate);[62] Lower Austrian state secretary Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Tyrolean governor and former interior minister Günther Platter, interior minister Maria Fekter and new chief of the parliamentary party (replacing Pröll) Karlheinz Kopf were elected as deputy leaders.

[63] Economy minister Bartenstein and former chancellor Schüssel became backbenchers,[64][65] as they stated they would take up their seats in parliament but were not going to be elected or appointed to any important position.

Social minister Buchinger from the SPÖ was assumed to be out of federal politics, as well, as he was seen as certain to be replaced by a trade unionist (Csörgits or Kuntzl, as mentioned before the election).

[77] Van der Bellen resigned on 3 October 2008 and was provisionally replaced by Eva Glawischnig, who had long been considered his designated successor; she was confirmed as federal spokeswoman at the party congress on 17 January, and 18 January 2009 in Klagenfurt with 97.4% of the delegates' votes, the best result for a spokesperson of the Greens so far and also an unexpectedly decisive result; she had stated she was hoping for "more than 80%".

[101] BZÖ leader and Carinthian governor Jörg Haider died in a car accident in Köttmannsdorf near Klagenfurt in the state of Carinthia in the early hours of 11 October 2008.

Police reported that the Volkswagen Phaeton that Haider had been driving came off the road, rolled down an embankment and overturned,[102] causing him "severe head and chest injuries".

[115] The vote on who would become governor until the election was to be held on 23 October 2008; the SPÖ nominated Carinthian leader Reinhart Rohr.

[118] There were rumours that Haider's death would facilitate the reunification of the FPÖ and the BZÖ, enabling Strache to make a bid for power.

[120] Following a series of highly emotional and unprofessional interviews by Petzner (some of which were seen as alluding to a personal relationship between Haider and Petzner beyond mere friendship), there were rumours that he would not become leader of the parliamentary BZÖ group on 22 October 2008 and that Haider's sister and former social minister Ursula Haubner or former defence minister Herbert Scheibner might be selected instead.

Former defence minister Herbert Scheibner took over as interim BZÖ leader, but stated that he would not stand for the post at the party conference in April 2009.

Following the resignation of Vice Chancellor and ÖVP party chairman Josef Pröll from all political functions, a cabinet reshuffle took place, the new government members sworn in by the President of Austria on 21 April 2011.