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They have not quite finished counting the votes in the primary that took place in California on June 5. But a verdict is in on the state’s unusual election system from one prominent voter: It doesn’t work. (If we used emojis at The Times, a big “thumb’s down” would be inserted here.)

That verdict comes from Mayor Eric M. Garcetti of Los Angeles, who assessed California’s jungle primary during a freewheeling conversation on national, state and city politics with New York Times reporters during a visit to the newspaper’s offices in Los Angeles last week.

“If the intention was to get more moderate candidates, it’s been an abject failure,” Mr. Garcetti said. “That was the sell job.”

“People didn’t campaign to the center,” he said.

Under the jungle primary, candidates appear on a nonpartisan ballot in June; the top two finishers, regardless of party, face each other in November. Democrats in particular were worried that they would get shut out of November ballots for Congress because they had so many candidates competing for a set number of voters in some districts.