diff --git a/patroni/api.py b/patroni/api.py
index 0018e537..cb7b2d1f 100644
--- a/patroni/api.py
+++ b/patroni/api.py
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ class RestApiHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
             status, msg = self.server.patroni.ha.restart()
             status_code = 200 if status else 503
             data = msg.encode('utf-8')
-        except:
+        except Exception:
             logger.exception('Exception during restart')
 
         self.send_response(status_code)
@@ -148,11 +148,15 @@ class RestApiHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
             try:
                 cluster = self.server.patroni.dcs.get_cluster()
                 if cluster.leader and cluster.leader.name != leader:
-                    return 200, ('Successfully failed over to ' + cluster.leader.name).encode('utf-8')
+                    if not candidate or candidate == cluster.leader.name:
+                        return 200, ('Successfully failed over to ' + cluster.leader.name).encode('utf-8')
+                    else:
+                        return 200, 'Failed over to "{0}" instead of "{1}"'.format(cluster.leader.name,
+                                                                                   candidate).encode('utf-8')
                 if not cluster.failover:
                     return 503, b'Failover failed'
-            except:
-                pass
+            except Exception as e:
+                logger.debug('Exception occured during polling failover result: %s', e)
         return 503, b'Failover status unknown'
 
     def is_failover_possible(self, cluster, leader, candidate):
diff --git a/tests/test_api.py b/tests/test_api.py
index 0d6dd151..5790f8d4 100644
--- a/tests/test_api.py
+++ b/tests/test_api.py
@@ -113,8 +113,8 @@ class TestRestApiHandler(unittest.TestCase):
         # make sure socket.error gets propagated via wfile object in finalize()
         with patch.object(MockRequest, 'makefile') as makefile:
             makefile.return_value.closed = False
-            makefile.return_value.readline.side_effect = lambda x: b"foo"
-            makefile.return_value.flush = Mock(side_effect=socket.error("foo"))
+            makefile.return_value.readline = Mock(return_value=b'foo')
+            makefile.return_value.flush = Mock(side_effect=socket.error('foo'))
             MockRestApiServer(RestApiHandler, b'OPTIONS / HTTP/1.0')
 
     def test_do_GET_patroni(self):
@@ -157,29 +157,40 @@ class TestRestApiHandler(unittest.TestCase):
         request = b'POST /failover HTTP/1.0\nAuthorization: Basic dGVzdDp0ZXN0\n' +\
                   b'Content-Length: 0\n\n'
         MockRestApiServer(RestApiHandler, request)
+
+        cluster.leader.name = 'postgresql1'
+        MockRestApiServer(RestApiHandler, request)
+
         request = b'POST /failover HTTP/1.0\nAuthorization: Basic dGVzdDp0ZXN0\n' +\
                   b'Content-Length: 25\n\n{"leader": "postgresql1"}'
         MockRestApiServer(RestApiHandler, request)
+
+        cluster.leader.name = 'postgresql2'
+        request = b'POST /failover HTTP/1.0\nAuthorization: Basic dGVzdDp0ZXN0\n' +\
+                  b'Content-Length: 53\n\n{"leader": "postgresql1", "candidate": "postgresql2"}'
+        MockRestApiServer(RestApiHandler, request)
+
         cluster.leader.name = 'postgresql1'
         MockRestApiServer(RestApiHandler, request)
-        cluster.members = [Member(0, 'postgresql0', 30, {'api_url': 'http'})]
+
+        cluster.members = [Member(0, 'postgresql0', 30, {'api_url': 'http'}),
+                           Member(0, 'postgresql2', 30, {'api_url': 'http'})]
         MockRestApiServer(RestApiHandler, request)
         with patch.object(MockPatroni, 'dcs') as d:
             cluster = d.get_cluster.return_value
             cluster.leader.name = 'postgresql0'
             MockRestApiServer(RestApiHandler, request)
+            cluster.leader.name = 'postgresql2'
+            MockRestApiServer(RestApiHandler, request)
             cluster.leader.name = 'postgresql1'
             cluster.failover = None
             MockRestApiServer(RestApiHandler, request)
-            d.get_cluster = Mock(side_effect=Exception())
+            d.get_cluster = Mock(side_effect=Exception)
             MockRestApiServer(RestApiHandler, request)
             d.manual_failover.return_value = False
             MockRestApiServer(RestApiHandler, request)
         with patch.object(MockHa, 'fetch_nodes_statuses', Mock(return_value=[])):
             MockRestApiServer(RestApiHandler, request)
-        request = b'POST /failover HTTP/1.0\nAuthorization: Basic dGVzdDp0ZXN0\n' +\
-                  b'Content-Length: 50\n\n{"leader": "postgresql1", "member": "postgresql2"}'
-        MockRestApiServer(RestApiHandler, request)
 
         # Valid future date
         request = b'POST /failover HTTP/1.0\nAuthorization: Basic dGVzdDp0ZXN0\nContent-Length: 103\n\n{"leader": ' +\