diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_importer.py b/pelican/tests/test_importer.py
index 76feb9ce..198ee0fe 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/test_importer.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_importer.py
@@ -317,7 +317,7 @@ class TestWordpressXmlImporter(unittest.TestCase):
             self.posts)
         with temporary_folder() as temp:
             md = [r(f) for f in silent_f2p(test_post, 'markdown', temp)][0]
-            sample_line = re.search(r'-   This is a code sample', md).group(0)
+            sample_line = re.search(r'- This is a code sample', md).group(0)
             code_line = re.search(r'\s+a = \[1, 2, 3\]', md).group(0)
             self.assertTrue(sample_line.rindex('This') < code_line.rindex('a'))
 
diff --git a/pelican/tools/pelican_import.py b/pelican/tools/pelican_import.py
index 5b08b6b5..f8a6c631 100755
--- a/pelican/tools/pelican_import.py
+++ b/pelican/tools/pelican_import.py
@@ -839,12 +839,15 @@ def fields2pelican(
                     if pandoc_version >= (1, 16) else '--no-wrap'
                 cmd = ('pandoc --normalize {0} --from=html'
                        ' --to={1} {2} -o "{3}" "{4}"')
-                cmd = cmd.format(parse_raw, out_markup, wrap_none,
+                cmd = cmd.format(parse_raw,
+                                 out_markup if out_markup != 'markdown' else "gfm",
+                                 wrap_none,
                                  out_filename, html_filename)
             else:
                 from_arg = '-f html+raw_html' if not strip_raw else '-f html'
                 cmd = ('pandoc {0} --to={1}-smart --wrap=none -o "{2}" "{3}"')
-                cmd = cmd.format(from_arg, out_markup,
+                cmd = cmd.format(from_arg,
+                                 out_markup if out_markup != 'markdown' else "gfm",
                                  out_filename, html_filename)
 
             try: