By the beginning of 1880 the sitting parliament was entering its seventh session and a general election was expected before the year ended. Opinion varied on exactly when the government would dissolve. Some liberals believed that the dissolution would come in the spring after the budget had been presented, others thought it would take place in the summer following the completion of the parliamentary session, a few people even felt that the government might wait out its mandate and not dissolve until the end of the year, or the beginning of 1881. The dissolution ultimately came as a surprise on 8 March only a month after parliament had met and before any serious business had been transacted.