administration and replace them by committed supporters of the Weimar Constitution, including from the broad strata of the people eliminate the still-existing privileges of the nobility in Prussia through the abolition of manor districts initiate and implement state and municipal administrative reform Braun and Severing had replaced almost all Prussian governors (), district presidents (), district administrators and police chiefs. After its reorganization by Wilhelm Abegg, the Prussian police force was considered one of the most important guarantors of the Weimar Republic. In the end it was about 50,000 strong, predominantly republican-minded, and part of it trained paramilitarily. It also knew how to respond effectively during the periods of street fighting that became frequent in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Since there were few supporters of democracy who already had civil service training or extensive experience in office, the restaffing could only be partially carried out. Especially below the immediate leadership level, the government had to leave many officials loyal to the monarchy in office. Conservative and bourgeois parties in particular strongly opposed political reassignments, although both the DDP and the DVP were awarded an above average number of posts in the administration's governing bodies. The re-integration of the DVP into the Prussian government failed several times mainly due to this issue. 1925 presidential election In the 1925 German presidential election, Braun campaigned to succeed Friedrich Ebert as President of the Reich, running against the Centre Party's Wilhelm Marx, Karl Jarres of the DVP and Ernst Thälmann of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). The Social Democrats were counting on a leadership figure known throughout Germany who was similar to Ebert in mentality. In the first round of voting, Braun received 29 percent of the vote, a considerably better result than the SPD's 20.5% in the previous Reichstag election. Because the Centre Party refused to support a Social Democratic candidate on the second ballot, Braun withdrew in favor of Marx. He was no more successful than Braun in appealing to conservative voters and lost to Paul von Hindenburg. End of the Weimar Republic Braun initially had a good relationship with President Hindenburg, something that was surprising both to observers and to the two men themselves. The Minister President, who topped the tall field marshal by a hand's breadth, was also one of the few men who symbolically met Hindenburg eye to eye. The two found common conversational grounds in