diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index d433d4ca6b7..9639cac5a94 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -26,6 +26,11 @@ Library
 - Issue #6271: mmap tried to close invalid file handle (-1) when anonymous.
   (On Unix)
 
+Extension Modules
+-----------------
+
+- Issue #5590: Remove unused global variable in pyexpat extension.
+
 
 What's New in Python 3.1 Release Candidate 2?
 =============================================
diff --git a/Modules/pyexpat.c b/Modules/pyexpat.c
index 7a862c0f6d2..1b9ffcac4b2 100644
--- a/Modules/pyexpat.c
+++ b/Modules/pyexpat.c
@@ -1169,7 +1169,6 @@ static struct PyMethodDef xmlparse_methods[] = {
 */
 
 static char template_buffer[257];
-PyObject *template_string = NULL;
 
 static void
 init_template_buffer(void)