diff --git a/Modules/regexmodule.c b/Modules/regexmodule.c
index d449932..fe4cc9a 100644
--- a/Modules/regexmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/regexmodule.c
@@ -535,7 +535,7 @@
 
 	gdict = PyDict_New();
 	if (gdict == NULL || (npattern = symcomp(pattern, gdict)) == NULL) {
-		Py_DECREF(gdict);
+		Py_XDECREF(gdict);
 		Py_DECREF(pattern);
 		return NULL;
 	}