Gafni claims women would not vote for women in UTJ

So now MK Gafni (UTJ) has a new reason why they don't let women have positions in the party for Knesset.

Until now it was supposedly based on halacha and tzniyus; women should not be in such a public position; women should not be in leadership positions; it would create a situation of the men and women working closely together and create possible inappropriate situations. etc.

Recently Yitzchak Ravitz, son of deceased former MK Avraham Ravitz, made a comment (that he now claims was taken out of context) saying that there  is no halachic problem with women serving in the Knesset.

Ravitz has come under attack,  which has led to his retraction, for that, but Gafni was again asked, in light of Ravitz's words, about women serving as MKs for UTJ.

This time Gafni did not turn to issues of halacha but gave a very practical reason why they don't place a woman in the party list.

According to Gafni's latest claim, practically speaking, including a woman on the party list would hurt UTJ. Even though probably close to 50% of its votes come from women, according to Gafni they would lose many of those if a woman was on the list. According to Gafni, the women have gotten more extreme haredi than the men. Gafni claims they would lose 50% of their votes, ostensibly the female half, if a woman was on the list.
source: Srugim

to the practical aspect of it - if a woman was on the list, no women would vote for them? but all the men would? neither side of the argument makes sense. Maybe together it would add up to 50%? but he did not provide any numbers, and only spoke about the women not voting for them.

I don't know if Gafni's claim is accurate or not. I doubt he knows either, but that's a different story. Gafni's claim is weak solely because it is made up, and he did not offer any polls or proof to back it up. Perhaps Gafni seriously looked into it and came to the conclusion that electorally it does not pay, but then he would offer the paperwork of the polls and surveys they commissioned to look into the matter. As it is, he is just saying whatever is convenient in response to who is asking the question. He says whatever necessary just to brush off the questioner.

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