Antônio Pedro de Siqueira Indio da Costa on June 30, 2010, was chosen as the running mate to Presidential candidate José Serra. - in what was seem as a move pressed on Serra by the DEM leadership, as Serra tended to favour a "pure-blooded" PSDB ticket As vice-presidential candidate, he made himself noticed mostly by his declarations accusing the Workers' Party of connections with the FARC and international drug dealing, something that earned him the nickname of "Serra['s] Palin". After the results of the 2010 election, which by the popular vote elected Dilma Rousseff as Brazil's first female president, Indio da Costa parted from his former political
Dilma Rousseff later reconciled and remained together until 2000, when Rousseff moved alone to a rented apartment. In 1995, after the end of Collares' term, Rousseff departed from her political office and returned to the FEE, where she was the editor of the magazine "Economic Indicators" (). It was during this break from public offices that she officially enrolled in the Campinas State University PhD program, in 1998. That same year, the Workers' Party won the Rio Grande do Sul gubernatorial election with the support of PDT in the second round. Once again she was appointed Secretary of Energy, this time by