diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 9e26bb7..b276ea4 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ AS_IF([test "x$enable_gcov" != "xno"],
        ],
 )
 
-AM_PATH_PYTHON()
+AM_PATH_PYTHON([2.6])
 AS_IF([$($PYTHON -c "import argparse")], [:],
        AC_MSG_ERROR([python argparse module is missing]))