diff --git a/Modules/_posixsubprocess.c b/Modules/_posixsubprocess.c
index d388d89..f9b38b6 100644
--- a/Modules/_posixsubprocess.c
+++ b/Modules/_posixsubprocess.c
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@
     PyObject *gc_module = NULL;
     PyObject *executable_list, *py_close_fds;
     PyObject *env_list, *preexec_fn;
-    PyObject *process_args = NULL, *converted_args = NULL;
+    PyObject *process_args, *converted_args = NULL, *fast_args = NULL;
     PyObject *preexec_fn_args_tuple = NULL;
     int p2cread, p2cwrite, c2pread, c2pwrite, errread, errwrite;
     int errpipe_read, errpipe_write, close_fds, restore_signals;
@@ -224,15 +224,17 @@
     /* These conversions are done in the parent process to avoid allocating
        or freeing memory in the child process. */
     if (process_args != Py_None) {
+        Py_ssize_t num_args;
         /* Equivalent to:  */
         /*  tuple(PyUnicode_FSConverter(arg) for arg in process_args)  */
-        process_args = PySequence_Fast(process_args, "argv must be a tuple");
-        converted_args = PyTuple_New(PySequence_Size(process_args));
+        fast_args = PySequence_Fast(process_args, "argv must be a tuple");
+        num_args = PySequence_Fast_GET_SIZE(fast_args);
+        converted_args = PyTuple_New(num_args);
         if (converted_args == NULL)
             goto cleanup;
-        for (arg_num = 0; arg_num < PySequence_Size(process_args); ++arg_num) {
+        for (arg_num = 0; arg_num < num_args; ++arg_num) {
             PyObject *borrowed_arg, *converted_arg;
-            borrowed_arg = PySequence_Fast_GET_ITEM(process_args, arg_num);
+            borrowed_arg = PySequence_Fast_GET_ITEM(fast_args, arg_num);
             if (PyUnicode_FSConverter(borrowed_arg, &converted_arg) == 0)
                 goto cleanup;
             PyTuple_SET_ITEM(converted_args, arg_num, converted_arg);
@@ -240,7 +242,7 @@
 
         argv = _PySequence_BytesToCharpArray(converted_args);
         Py_CLEAR(converted_args);
-        Py_CLEAR(process_args);
+        Py_CLEAR(fast_args);
         if (!argv)
             goto cleanup;
     }
@@ -319,7 +321,7 @@
         _Py_FreeCharPArray(argv);
     _Py_FreeCharPArray(exec_array);
     Py_XDECREF(converted_args);
-    Py_XDECREF(process_args);
+    Py_XDECREF(fast_args);
 
     /* Reenable gc if it was disabled. */
     if (need_to_reenable_gc)
diff --git a/Objects/abstract.c b/Objects/abstract.c
index 952ad40..cd5a9fd 100644
--- a/Objects/abstract.c
+++ b/Objects/abstract.c
@@ -2737,6 +2737,7 @@
 {
 	char **array;
 	Py_ssize_t i, argc;
+	PyObject *item = NULL;
 
 	argc = PySequence_Size(self);
 	if (argc == -1)
@@ -2749,7 +2750,7 @@
 	}
 	for (i = 0; i < argc; ++i) {
 		char *data;
-		PyObject *item = PySequence_GetItem(self, i);
+		item = PySequence_GetItem(self, i);
 		data = PyBytes_AsString(item);
 		if (data == NULL) {
 			/* NULL terminate before freeing. */
@@ -2761,12 +2762,14 @@
 			PyErr_NoMemory();
 			goto fail;
 		}
+		Py_DECREF(item);
 	}
 	array[argc] = NULL;
 
 	return array;
 
 fail:
+	Py_XDECREF(item);
 	_Py_FreeCharPArray(array);
 	return NULL;
 }