diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 14b11130a7..a8c4094c87 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1651,8 +1651,8 @@ fi
 
 # Note that if the Python conditional here evaluates True we will exit
 # with status 1 which is a shell 'false' value.
-if ! $python -c 'import sys; sys.exit(sys.version_info < (2,6))'; then
-  error_exit "Cannot use '$python', Python 2 >= 2.6 or Python 3 is required." \
+if ! $python -c 'import sys; sys.exit(sys.version_info < (2,7))'; then
+  error_exit "Cannot use '$python', Python 2 >= 2.7 or Python 3 is required." \
       "Use --python=/path/to/python to specify a supported Python."
 fi