Sri Lanka, Nov. 24 -- As the first party to govern Sri Lanka outside the long-standing two-party system in generations, the NPP ran on a bold platform: wiping out corruption, rebuilding the struggling economy, boosting investment in public education, passing a new constitution giving more power to the regions, scrapping harsh anti-terrorism laws, and ending decades of failed two-party rule.

A year later, the record shows both real gains and troubling shortfalls that reveal an uncomfortable truth: new faces in power cannot break the grip of the old political order if the alternative simply copies the same policies and priorities it was elected to change.

Over the past three decades, Sri Lanka has sunk to the ranks of the most corrupt n...