Romanian lawmakers set to vote on new center-right Cabinet as political crisis drags on

BUCHAREST, Romania -- Lawmakers in Romania are set to vote Wednesday on a new center-right Cabinet proposed by Prime Minister-designate Siegfried Muresan, who seeks to end a monthslong political crisis.Muresan, 45, has proposed what he describes as a “reform-oriented” governing program under his center-right National Liberal Party, or PNL, but is widely expected to fall short of the 233 votes needed to form a majority government in the European Union country.Muresan, a European Parliament member, has secured support from about 170 lawmakers and held “extremely productive” discussions with minority groups and independent parliamentarians, he said in an interview with The Associated Press at the Palace of Parliament on Monday.“My responsibility is to do everything in my power until the plenary vote to try to secure the necessary number of votes,” Muresan said. “I feel that right now we’re in the 200-vote range and that we’re getting close.”Muresan’s core support comes from three parties: the PNL, the Save Romania Union party, or USR, and the small ethnic Hungarian UDMR party. The Social Democratic Party, or PSD, and the nationalist opposition Alliance for the Unity of Romanians party...