AJAR CHEKIROVA, acheki2@uic.edu

Ajar Chekirova is a PhD student at the Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Her research interests include the process of democratization, particularly in regards to political parties, voting behavior, and representation. Her dissertation research focuses on the process of formation of party system in Kyrgyzstan and voters’ response to it. Ajar will conduct field research in Kyrgyzstan collecting quantitative and qualitative data between August 2015 and June 2016.