diff --git a/patroni/postgresql.py b/patroni/postgresql.py
index 5a857c1c..f75324e7 100644
--- a/patroni/postgresql.py
+++ b/patroni/postgresql.py
@@ -127,9 +127,15 @@ class Postgresql:
 
     def _cursor(self):
         if not self._cursor_holder or self._cursor_holder.closed or self._cursor_holder.connection.closed != 0:
+            logger.info("established a new patroni connection to the postgres cluster")
             self._cursor_holder = self.connection().cursor()
         return self._cursor_holder
 
+    def close_connection(self):
+        if self._cursor_holder and self._cursor_holder.connection and self._cursor_holder.connection.closed == 0:
+            self._cursor_holder.connection.close()
+            logger.info("closed patroni connection to the postgresql cluster")
+
     def _query(self, sql, *params):
         cursor = None
         try:
@@ -269,6 +275,12 @@ class Postgresql:
             logging.exception('Exception during CHECKPOINT')
 
     def stop(self, mode='fast', block_callbacks=False):
+        # make sure we close all connections established against
+        # the former node, otherwise, we might get a stalled one
+        # after kill -9, which would report incorrect data to
+        # patroni.
+
+        self.close_connection()
         if not self.is_running():
             if not block_callbacks:
                 self.set_state('stopped')
diff --git a/requirements-py2.txt b/requirements-py2.txt
index d57df720..fde9c79a 100644
--- a/requirements-py2.txt
+++ b/requirements-py2.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 boto
 dnspython
 mock
-psycopg2
+psycopg2>=2.6.1
 PyYAML
 requests
 six >= 1.7
diff --git a/requirements-py3.txt b/requirements-py3.txt
index 0fd9dfb3..cc00965b 100644
--- a/requirements-py3.txt
+++ b/requirements-py3.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 boto
 mock
 dnspython3
-psycopg2
+psycopg2>=2.6.1
 PyYAML
 requests
 six