Jang Dong-hyeok remains leader of South Korea’s main opposition because the People Power Party’s (PPP) dominant factions have more to lose from an uncontrolled succession than from keeping a leader who has failed to broaden the party’s appeal.

That tension has come into sharper view after more than 22,000 dues-paying PPP members signed a petition demanding that Jang and the party’s elected Supreme Council members resign. Organizers collected the signatures over the past month and plan to deliver the petition to senior PPP lawmakers before an Aug. 17 meeting.

The campaign is unlikely to remove Jang immediately. The party has