Leftist Funes edges toward El Salvador vote win

SAN SALVADOR, March 15 (Reuters) - Leftist Mauricio Funes of El Salvador's former Marxist rebel FMLN party appeared headed for victory over a conservative ruling party rival in Sunday's presidential election.

Funes -- a former TV journalist and candidate of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN -- had 51.12 percent of the vote after 85 percent of voting returns were counted, electoral officials said.

Rodrigo Avila of the conservative ARENA party had 48.87 percent after an election campaign that split the country between left and right and evoked memories of the 1980-92 civil war. (Reporting by Raul Gutierrez and Catherine Bremer; Editing by Eric Beech)