diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 316086c1e1..87a5d8adcc 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ test-stem: $(TESTING_TOR_BINARY)
 
 test-stem-full: $(TESTING_TOR_BINARY)
 	@if test -d "$$STEM_SOURCE_DIR"; then \
-		"$$STEM_SOURCE_DIR"/run_tests.py --tor $(TESTING_TOR_BINARY) --all --log notice --target RUN_ALL,ONLINE -v; \
+		$(PYTHON) "$$STEM_SOURCE_DIR"/run_tests.py --tor $(TESTING_TOR_BINARY) --all --log notice --target RUN_ALL,ONLINE -v; \
 	else \
 		echo '$$STEM_SOURCE_DIR was not set.'; echo; \
 		echo "To run these tests, git clone https://git.torproject.org/stem.git/ ; export STEM_SOURCE_DIR=\`pwd\`/stem"; \
diff --git a/changes/bug16470 b/changes/bug16470
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3d1b419f6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/bug16470
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+  o Minor bugfixes (tests):
+    - Use the configured Python executable when running test-stem-full. Fixes
+      bug 16470; bugfix on 0.2.7.1-alpha.