Will the Hareidi Hold on the Rabbanut be Broken?

«"Avigdor Lieberman was very interested in promoting Tzohar," said one person with close knowledge of the proposed deal, "to make sure that they had a strong capability of taking the Ashkenazi chief rabbinate" in the June 2013 elections for the position. And the strongman of the Israeli right was willing to bring his considerable influence to bear to ensure they had the votes in the 150-member conclave that will choose the next two chief rabbis of Israel.

Last week, this underground movement broke into the open. Yisrael Beiteinu MK David Rotem, the powerful chairman of the Knesset's Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, publicly announced his party's intentions to push for a non-ultra-Orthodox chief rabbi. "I grew up when the chief rabbinate was a national-religious institution, and I'm not in favor of the fact that Haredi rabbis have taken it over," he said with typical bluntness. ..»

Tablet Magazine

http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/120125/religious-revolution-in-israel?all=1#undefined

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Is the Hareidi-Dati split primarily over Strictness in Halachah?

Or

Is it over Openness vs. Insularity?

Or to put it another way - can we have Rabbinic Leaders who are both very strict in Halachic approach, and yet who are socially "Cosmopolitan"?

Best Regards,
RRW