diff --git a/SAS/LSMR/src/CMakeLists.txt b/SAS/LSMR/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 973be9825daa09adda8af1ced8ccd96deb601e26..cb0ede1e3432ccbab88f4547be8e216a4ce29beb 100644
--- a/SAS/LSMR/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/SAS/LSMR/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-lofar_find_package(PythonInterp 3.4 REQUIRED)
 set(USE_PYTHON_COMPILATION Off)
+set(PYTHON_EXECUTABLE /usr/bin/python3)
+lofar_find_package(PythonInterp 3.4 REQUIRED)
 
 include(PythonInstall)
 include(FindPython3Module)
diff --git a/SAS/LSMR/test/CMakeLists.txt b/SAS/LSMR/test/CMakeLists.txt
index 576586f8f5fa93a42b422a58b401b85f04bf34a8..4eed12a329b8e1eb72442f2e06b4c34b2957abff 100644
--- a/SAS/LSMR/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/SAS/LSMR/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 include(LofarCTest)
 include(FindPython3Module)
 set(USE_PYTHON_COMPILATION Off)
+set(PYTHON_EXECUTABLE /usr/bin/python3)
 
 find_python3_module(mock REQUIRED)
 find_python3_module(requests REQUIRED)