Coalition talks will take at least two months, but yes, Wilders greatly under-performed expectations, and Rutte greatly exceeded his.
I agree. He didn't lose, he just failed to win. Rutte's response to Turkey's Erdogan really helped at the last minute.
Wilders gave the Dutch the perfect opportunity to say STOP! We've come this far but NO MORE! And they failed. I deplore the timidity that Europeans are showing all over the western half of the continent. What's it going to take to wake these people up? At this point I don't think anything will make them shake off their stupor.
It must have been “fake news” about Wilders likely to win. The ultraliberalism of the hapless Dutch people is never a surprise.