diff --git a/Modules/pyexpat.c b/Modules/pyexpat.c
index d923eeb..bf9ceeb 100644
--- a/Modules/pyexpat.c
+++ b/Modules/pyexpat.c
@@ -654,6 +654,7 @@ my_ElementDeclHandler(void *userData,
                              self->handlers[ElementDecl], args, self);
         self->in_callback = 0;
         if (rv == NULL) {
+            Py_DECREF(modelobj);
             flag_error(self);
             goto finally;
         }